A new topological magnet with colossal angular magnetoresistance

A new topological magnet with colossal angular magnetoresistance. Trillion percent change of resistance can be achieved in the new material by simply rotating the direction of spin.

Development of an artificial vision device capable of mimicking human optical illusions

Researchers have developed an ionic artificial vision device capable of increasing the edge contrast between the darker and lighter areas of an mage in a manner similar to that of human vision. This first-ever synthetic mimicry of human optical illusions was achieved using ionic migration and interaction within solids. It may be possible to use the device to develop compact, energy-efficient visual sensing and image processing hardware systems capable of processing analog signals.

'Magic wand' reveals a colorful nano-world

Researchers describe a revolutionary imaging technology that compresses lamp light into a nanometer-sized spot. It holds that light at the end of a silver nanowire like a Hogwarts student practicing the 'Lumos' spell, and uses it to reveal previously invisible details, including colors, in nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes.

Origami, kirigami inspire mechanical metamaterials designs

Researchers categorize origami- and kirigami-based mechanical metamaterials, artificially engineered materials with unusual mechanical properties, and subdivided them into rigid or deformable categories based on the elastic energy landscape. The researchers want to discover new designs, especially curved origami designs, hybrid origami-kirigami designs, modular designs, and hierarchical designs; to design for real-world applications, it will be helpful to explore materials with different properties such as thin or thick, soft or hard, and elastic or plastic.

New device modulates visible light—without dimming it—with the smallest footprint and lowest power consumption

Engineers have invented a breakthrough optical phase modulator that controls visible light -- without dimming it -- with the smallest footprint and lowest power consumption. New device will improve LIDAR for remote sensing, AR/VR goggles, quantum information processing chips, implantable optogenetic probes, and more.

New ultrahard diamond glass synthesized

An international research team that synthesized a new ultrahard form of carbon glass with a wealth of potential practical applications for devices and electronics. It is the hardest known glass with the highest thermal conductivity among all glass materials.

Prize-winning technology for large-scale energy storage

Safe, cheap and sustainable technology for energy storage has been developed. It is based on two major breakthroughs: the manufacture of wood-based electrodes in rolled form, and a new type of water-based electrolyte.

Researchers develop ultra-thin 'computer on the bone'

Researchers have developed an ultra-thin wireless device that grows to the surface of bone. Dubbed 'osseosurface electronics,' they could someday help physicians monitor bone health and healing over long periods.

Exploding and weeping ceramics provide path to new shape-shifting material

Researchers have discovered a path that could lead to shape-shifting ceramic materials. This discovery could improve everything from medical devices to electronics.

Invention lets people pay for purchases with a high-five

Imagine your car starting the moment you get in because it recognizes the jacket you're wearing. Consider the value of a hospital gown that continuously measures and transmits a patient's vital signs. These are just two applications made possible by a new 'body area network'-enabling fabric.

Researchers create novel molecules that serve as ziplines for energy

Researchers have moved packets of energy along a molecular ladder made of hundreds of benzene rings. Such polymers can potentially be used to design new displays based on organic light-emitting diodes, or for solar cells.

Ultra-large single-crystal WS2 monolayer

A new technique opens a possibility to replace silicon with 2D materials in semiconducting technology.

Revising a generalized spin current theory for the magnetoelectric effect in multiferroics

Microscopic aspects of ferroelectricity are canonically related to polar atomic displacements that break inversion symmetry of the crystal, leading to a non-zero net electric dipole moment. However, there is a special class of magnetic materials called multiferroics where inversion symmetry breaking occurs by a magnetic order stabilized in an otherwise crystallographically centrosymmetric lattice. The magnetically induced electric polarization can display complex forms of magnetoelectric coupling to the underlying magnetic texture, and its practical realization is one of the key directions towards achieving the cross-control of ferroelectric properties and magnetism in new generation electronic devices. Thus, understanding the microscopic origin of multiferroicity is a foremost goal of both fundamental and practical importance.

Thin-film, high-frequency antenna array offers new flexibility for wireless communications

Researchers have taken a step toward developing a type of antenna array that could coat an airplane's wings, function as a skin patch transmitting signals to medical implants, or cover a room as wallpaper that communicates with internet of things (IoT) devices.

Wearable tech: Engineers invent ultra-fast manufacturing technology, eliminating need for polymer binders

A team of engineers has invented new technology that could forever change the manufacturing of wearable, electronic sensors. They've figured out a way to speed up production without having to use polymer binders -- the industry standard in printing flexible sensors, which are often used to monitor vital signs in health care settings.

Towards self-restoring electronic devices with long DNA molecules

The potential of DNA structural properties in single-molecule electronics has finally been harnessed by researchers in a single-molecule junction device that shows spontaneous self-restoring ability. Additionally, the device, based on a 'zipper' DNA configuration, shows unconventionally high electrical conductivity, opening doors to the development of novel nanoelectronic devices.

Researchers move closer to controlling two-dimensional graphene

New results relied on a cleaner technique to manipulate the flow of electricity, giving graphene greater conductivity than metals such as copper and gold, and raising its potential for use in telecommunications systems and quantum computers.

Researchers discover predictable behavior in promising material for computer memory

A team of researchers has discovered unexpectedly familiar behavior in the antiferroelectric material known as zirconium dioxide, or zirconia.

Trapping spins with sound

Color centers are lattice defects in crystals that can capture one or more additional electrons. The spin of these electrons is very sensitive to external electric and magnetic fields -- and to sound. Researchers are now reporting the selective manipulation of electron spins in both their ground and excited states with sound. Their approach opens the path to new methods for processing quantum information inaccessible so far.

Spintronics: Exotic ferromagnetic order in two-dimensions

An international team has detected an unusual ferromagnetic property in a two-dimensional system, known as 'easy-plane anisotropy.' This could foster new energy efficient information technologies based on spintronics for data storage, among other things.

New battery technology could power wearable, self-sustaining fever detector

Researchers hope to harness the thermal energy generated by body heat to power a small, electronic device capable of detecting fever in the wearer.