New laser based on unusual physics phenomenon could improve telecommunications, computing

" #Lasers are ubiquitous in the present day world, from simple everyday laser pointers to complex #laserinterferometers used to detect #gravitationalwaves. Our current research will impact many areas of laser applications," said Ashok Kodigala, an electrical engineering Ph.D. student at UC San Diego and first author of the study. "Because they are unconventional, #BIClasers offer unique and unprecedented properties that haven't yet been realized with existing laser technologies," said Boubacar Kanté, electrical engineering professor at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering who led the research. For example, BIC lasers can be readily tuned to emit beams of different wavelengths, a useful feature for medical lasers made to precisely target cancer cells without damaging normal tissue. BIC lasers can also be made to emit beams with specially engineered shapes (spiral, donut or bell curve) -- called vector beams -- which could enable increasingly powerful computers and optical communication systems that can carry up to 10 times more information than existing ones. "Light sources are key components of optical data communications technology in cell phones, computers and astronomy, for example. In this work, we present a new kind of light source that is more efficient than what's available today in terms of power consumption and speed," said Babak Bahari, an electrical engineering Ph.D. student in Kanté's lab and a co-author of the study. Bound states in the continuum (BICs) are phenomena that have been predicted to exist since 1929. BICs are waves that remain perfectly confined, or bound, in an open system. Conventional waves in an open system escape, but BICs defy this norm -- they stay localized and do not escape despite having open pathways to do so. In a previous study, Kanté and his team demonstrated, at microwave frequencies, that BICs could be used to efficiently trap and store light to enable strong light-matter interaction. Now, they're harnessing BICs to demonstrate new types of lasers. The team published the work Jan. 12 in Nature.

http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=54244

Three ways organic electronics is changing technology as we know it (w/videos) Read more: Three ways organic electronics is changing technology as we know it (w/videos)

One day, your latest gadget won’t be in your pocket like a phone or even wrapped around your wrist like a smartwatch, but stuck to your skin like a transparent plaster. Researchers at the University of Tokyo are the latest group to attempt to make this kind of “ #optoelectronicskin ”, with an ultra-thin, flexible LED display that can be worn on the back of your hand (Science Advances, "Ultraflexible organic photonic skin"). What makes this possible is the field of “ #organicelectronics ”, which can also be used to create a range of technologies from printed solar cells to computer screens you can roll up and put in your pocket. The name comes from the use of “organic” semiconductors, which are made with materials based on carbon rather than silicon as in conventional electronics. And while optoelectronic skins are still being developed – organic electronics are already changing the technology we buy.

http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=44773.php

A device to control çolor' of electrons in graphene provides path to future electronics Read more: A device to control çolor' of electrons in graphene provides path to future electronics

A device made of bilayer #graphene, an atomically thin hexagonal arrangement of carbon atoms, provides experimental proof of the ability to control the momentum of electrons and offers a path to electronics that could require less energy and give off less heat than standard CMOS transistors. It is one step forward in a new field of physics called valleytronics (Nature Nanotechnology, "Gate-controlled topological conducting channels in bilayer graphene"). “Current silicon-based transistor devices rely on the charge of electrons to turn the device on or off, but many labs are looking at new ways to manipulate electrons based on other variables, called degrees of freedom,” said Jun Zhu, associate professor of physics at Penn State, who directed the research. “Charge is one degree of freedom. Electron spin is another, and the ability to build transistors based on spin, called spintronics, is still in the development stage. A third electronic degree of freedom is the valley state of electrons, which is based on their energy in relation to their momentum.”

http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=44349.php

A silicon-metal nanocomposite for high capacity lithium-ion batteries Read more: A silicon-metal nanocomposite for high capacity lithium-ion batteries

A research group led by #NaokiFukata, a Leader of #Nanostructured Semiconducting Materials Group at the International Center for Materials #Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), NIMS, and a research group at the Georgia Institute of Technology jointly developed an anode material for lithium (Li)-ion rechargeable batteries by forming nanoparticles made of silicon (Si)-metal composites on metal substrates. The resulting anode material had high capacity—almost twice as high as conventional materials—and a long cycle life. These results will lead to the development of higher-capacity, longer-life anode materials for Li-ion rechargeable batteries (Nano Energy, "Lithium ion battery anodes using Si-Fe based nanocomposite structures").
http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=44287.php

Nanotechnology Market 2015-2022: Global Strategic Business Report 2016 - A Review Of Market Opportunities In Key End-Use Market Segments

Dublin, Aug. 24, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the " #Nanotechnology - Global Strategic Business Report" report to their offering. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of World. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2015 through 2022. Also, a six-year historic analysis is provided for these markets. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research. This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Nanotechnology in US$ Million. The Global market is analyzed by the following Product Segments: #NanoDevices, #NanoMaterials, and #NanoTools. Company profiles are primarily based on public domain information including company URLs. The report profiles 364 companies including many key and niche players such as #AdvancedDiamondTechnologies, Inc. (US) #AdvancedNanoProducts Co., #LimitedAltairNanotechnologies Inc. (US) #ArrowheadPharmaceuticals, Inc. (US) #BrukerCorporation (US) #CatalyticMaterials, LLC (US) #ChematTechnology Inc. (US) #eSpinTechnologies, Inc. (US) #ELITechGroup (France) #Genefluidics, Inc., (US) #HanwhaNanotech Corporation (South Korea) #HybridPlastics (US) #HyperionCatalysis International, Inc. (US) #IntegranTechnologies, Inc. (Canada) #IntrinsiqMaterials Limited (IML) (UK) #Luxtera, Inc. (US) #Nanocyl S.A. (Belgium) #NanoMaterials Ltd, (Israel) #Nanosys, Inc. (US) QuantumSphere, Inc. (US) #RaymorIndustries, Inc. (Canada) #RogueValleyMicrodevices, Inc. (US) #ShenzhenNanotech Port Co., Ltd. (China) #StarpharmaHoldings (Australia) #TeledyneScientific & Imaging, LLC (US) #Unidym, Inc. (US)

https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2016/08/24/866435/0/en/Nanotechnology-Market-2015-2022-Global-Strategic-Business-Report-2016-A-Review-Of-Market-Opportunities-In-Key-End-Use-Market-Segments.html

X-ray optics on a chip

Waveguides are widely used for filtering, confining, guiding, coupling or splitting beams of visible light. However, creating waveguides that could do the same for X-rays has posed tremendous challenges in fabrication, so they are still only in an early stage of development. In the latest issue of Acta Crystallographica Section A: Foundations and Advances ("Miniaturized beamsplitters realized by X-ray waveguides"), Sarah Hoffmann-Urlaub and Tim Salditt report the fabrication and testing of a millimetre-sized chip capable of splitting a beam of X-rays.

Fork-shaped channels that are only a few tens of nanometres wide and deep are transferred into a silicon wafer using electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching then enclosed by bonding a second silicon wafer on top.The results of simulations of how the 'parent' beam is split into two 'daughter' beams on passing through the chip were backed up by experimental measurements at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, showing that the incident beam is efficiently transported through the chip, neatly split and guided to exits that have precisely controlled (and tunable) spacings. After the daughter beams leave the chip, they interfere, leading to a pattern of vertical stripes just like the pattern obtained from a classical Young's double-slit interference experiment.Interestingly, on close inspection there are fork-like structures within the stripes that originate from discontinuities in the phase of the recombined beam, forming striking features known as phase vortices. Furthermore, from those interference patterns the intensity distribution in the exit plane of the channels is reconstructed, which is found to be in very good agreement to the actual channel design.
http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=44260.php

Google co-founder favors nano technology

SAN FRANCISCO —  #Google co-founder @SergeyBrin said that if he were to start a company from scratch today, it would be in #nanotechnology.

"I think the notion that the materials that we use could just be dramatically better...I think that's very powerful," Brin said in an interview at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at @StanfordUniversity on Friday. His remarks followed a panel featuring @PresidentObama and #Facebook CEO @MarkZuckerberg. Google CEO @SundarPichai also spoke. #graphene

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/06/24/google-co-founder-favors-nano-technology/86356912/