Category archives: Nanotechnology

Next generation nanoprobes for the microspectroscopic study of biosystems

Next generation nanoprobes for the microspectroscopic study of biosystems

Condensed matterMaterialsNanotechnologyQuantum physics

By DIPC

Nonlinear processes are attractive in microscopy and spectroscopy since they can be excited with light in the near‐infrared, which offers several advantages, from a deep tissue penetration capability or a reduced photodamage due to the lower photon energy, to a spatially more confined probed volume, which can result in an improved lateral resolution. These processes […]

Using an optical antenna to launch phonon polaritons in a low-dimensional van der Waals crystal

Using an optical antenna to launch phonon polaritons in a low-dimensional van der Waals crystal

Condensed matterMaterialsNanotechnologyQuantum physics

By DIPC

The so-called van der Waals materials consist of two-dimensional layers bound by weak van der Waals forces. After the isolation of graphene, the field of two-dimensional van der Waals materials has experienced an explosive growth and new families of two-dimensional systems and block-layered bulk materials have been created. This growth has been fueled mainly by […]

The extreme nanophotonics of the plasmonic nanopatch

The extreme nanophotonics of the plasmonic nanopatch

Condensed matterMaterialsNanotechnologyQuantum physics

By DIPC

For centuries, metals were employed in optical applications only as mirrors and gratings. New vistas opened up in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the discovery of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and the use of surface plasmon (collective electronic oscillations at the surface of metals) resonances for sensing. In a simplified picture and in […]

First nondestructive enantioselective detection technique

First nondestructive enantioselective detection technique

ChemistryCondensed matterMaterialsNanotechnology

By DIPC

If a nucleus has a nonzero spin, it behaves as a small magnet. Therefore, in an external magnetic field, the nuclear magnetic moment vector precesses about the field direction but only certain otientations are allowed by quantum rules. Thus, for hydrogen (spin 1/2) there are two possible states in the presence of a field, each […]

Towards advanced room-temperature valleytronic nanodevices.

Towards advanced room-temperature valleytronic nanodevices.

Condensed matterMaterialsNanotechnologyPhysics

By DIPC

So-called “valleytronics” is a new type of electronics that could lead to faster and more efficient computer logic systems and data storage chips in next-generation devices. Valley electrons are so named because they carry a valley degree of freedom, a pseudospin. This is a new way to harness electrons for information processing that’s in addition […]

Chromatic multiphoton serial microscopy can generate brain-wide atlas-like colour datasets with subcellular resolution

Chromatic multiphoton serial microscopy can generate brain-wide atlas-like colour datasets with subcellular resolution

BiologyBiomedicineComputer scienceNanotechnologyNeurosciencePhysics

By DIPC

In 1873, the microscopist Ernst Abbe stipulated a physical limit for the maximum resolution of traditional optical microscopy: 0.2 micrometers, or 200 nanometers (the shortest wavelength for visible light, the extreme limit of violet). This meant that scientists could distinguish whole cells, as well as some parts of the cell called organelles. However, they would […]

A Talbot carpet of electrons in nanoporous graphene

A Talbot carpet of electrons in nanoporous graphene

Condensed matterMaterialsNanotechnologyQuantum physicsTheoretical physics

By DIPC

Controlling electron waves by harnessing phase-coherence and interference effects is a cornerstone for future nanoelectronics or quantum computing. To this end, design of platforms with well-defined, narrow, and low-loss propagation channels is essential. Nanoporous graphene (NPG) holds great potential for distributing and controlling currents on the nanoscale. But the effects derived from the wave nature […]