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CURRENT EVENTS
Scientists at University of Michigan have developed "the first room-temperature light detector that can sense the full infrared spectrum," a detector so thin it may be easily stacked into night vision contact lenses.
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3.30.14: SCIENTISTS CREATE SENSOR FOR NIGHT VISION ... ... CONTACT LENSES
According to the leaders of the team - Zhaohui Zhong and Ted Norris - the new detector uses "graphene, the one-atom thick layer [of] carbon atoms that was known to capture the entire [light] spectrum but with a very low sensitivity," absorbing 2.3% of light. This absorbance was amplified by using the electrical charges in the graphene.
"To make the device, they put an insulating barrier layer between two graphene sheets. The bottom layer had a current running through it. When light hit the top layer, it freed electrons, creating positively charged holes. Then, the electrons used a quantum mechanical trick to slip through the barrier and into the bottom layer of graphene.
The positively-charged holes, left behind in the top layer, produced an electric field that affected the flow of electricity through the bottom layer. By measuring the change in [the] current, the team could deduce the brightness of the light hitting the graphene."
Through this process the team was able to produce an extremely thin sensor that may work at room-temperature and possesses a sensitivity equal to that of its far-infrared and bulky counterparts.
In the future, the team at University of Michigan aspires to incorporate the new detector into contact lenses, expanding vision of its users.
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The ability to control and sculpture light around an object to produce an effect of invisibility to the naked eye has long been a mere theory behind fictional invisibility cloaks, such Harry Potter's famous Cloak of Invisibility.
Now, however, this theory has become a reality.
The work of Debashis Chanda at the University of Florida has yeilded a large "swath of multilayer 3-D metamaterial operating in the visible spectral rango" through nanotrasfer printing, which modifies modifies "surrrounding reflective index needed for controlling propagation of light." The 3-D metamaterial consists
of artificial nanostructures that, when stacked in a 3-D architecture, produce a model over which electromagnetic resonances may be manipulated to control lightwaves, thus producing a sense of invisibility.
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of artificial nanostructures that, when stacked in a 3-D architecture, produce a model over which electromagnetic resonances may be manipulated to control lightwaves, thus producing a sense of invisibility.
3.31.14: INVISIBILITY: ARTIFICIAL NANOSTRUCTURES LEAD ... TO BREAKTHROUGH IN CREATING INVISIBILITY ... CLOAKS, STEALTH TECHNOLOGY
The ability to control and sculpture light around an object to produce an effect of invisibility to the naked eye has long been a mere theory behind fictional invisibility cloaks, such Harry Potter's famous Cloak of Invisibility.
Now, however, this theory has become a reality.
The work of Debashis Chanda at the University of Florida has yeilded a large "swath of multilayer 3-D metamaterial operating in the visible spectral rango" through nanotrasfer printing, which modifies modifies "surrrounding reflective index needed for controlling propagation of light." The 3-D metamaterial consists
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The power of nanotherapies in the field of wound regeneration have yeilded a new way to reduce microbial activity in the wound:
Antimicrobial nano-based dressings : Throughout time, silver ions have been believed to possess anti-microbial effects: the ions can "directly disrupt pathoden cell walls/membranes and suppress respiratory enzymes and electron transport components." Silver nanoparticles, in turn, possess identical properties, however their smaller size allows them to more easily maneuver within the human body and bind to bacterial and viral cell membranes in order to disrupt their cell activity. With this in mind, nanoengineers have shifted their focus on silver coatings as the popular preference for nanoparticle construction.
3.21.14: NANOTHERAPIES MAKE INROADS IN WOUND ... REGENERATION