Manufacturing Bits: Oct. 29


Searching for dark energy The first tests have been conducted on a new cosmic cartography system that will soon search for dark energy and galaxies in the universe. The system, called the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), is a complex unit with 5,000 fiber-optic eyes. The DESI system is mounted on top of the 4-meter Mayall Telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Ariz... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: April 2


Bright particle accelerators The High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) has reached a major milestone in the world’s most luminous or brightest particle accelerator. KEK has recently made the first physics run in the SuperKEKB, a storage ring that combines an electron-positron collider with a new and advanced detector. Electron-positron collisions have restarted at the SuperK... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: June 5


Water insulators North Carolina State University, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Texas A&M University have developed what could be considered as water insulators for energy storage applications. Basically, researchers sandwiched water between two materials, enabling higher power storage devices with more efficiency. More specifically, in the lab, researchers developed a compou... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: May 22


Exotic water The Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) organization, Uppsala University and SLAC have turned a large X-ray laser into the world’s fastest water heater. Using an X-ray free-electron laser from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, researchers have heated water from room temperature to 100,000 degrees Celsius in less than a tenth of a picosecond or a millionth of a mil... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 13


Watching nanowires grow Using X-ray techniques, the University of Siegen and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have observed the formation of tiny nanowires in gallium arsenide (GaAs) materials in real time. GaAs is used for fiber optics, infrared systems, RF devices in mobile phones and solar panels in spacecraft. Observing the growth of GaAs nanowires could lead to a better unde... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 19


Superconducting magnet record The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) has broken another world record for magnets. With a superconducting magnet, MagLab reached a magnetic field of 32 teslas. This is a third stronger than the previous record and more than 3,000 times stronger than a refrigerator magnet, according to MagLab. Tesla, or T, is the measurement of magnetic field ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 21


Making harder windows Using cubic silicon nitride materials, a team of researchers have developed a harder window that can sustain severe conditions. There is a demand for harder and stronger windows in various applications, such as engines, ball bearings, cutting tools and other others. To enable this technology, researchers used materials based on transparent polycrystalline ceramics. One... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 31


Microbial nanowires Microbiologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst report that they have discovered a new type of microbial nanowire, the protein filaments that bacteria use to make electrical connections with other microbes or minerals. The team was motivated by the potential for improved "green" conducting materials for electronics. According to Derek Lovley, professor of... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Nov. 29


Supersonic kinetic spraying Low-cost flexible electronics could enable a new class of products, such as roll-up displays, wearable electronics, flexible solar cells and electronic skin. There is a major barrier to enable these technologies, however. The problem is to make flexible transparent conducting films that are scalable and economical. The University of Illinois at Chicago and Kor... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 12


Detecting zeptojoules Aalto University has broken the world’s record for microwave detection. Specifically, researchers detected zeptojoule microwave pulses using a superconducting microwave detector, based on proximity-induced Josephson junctions. This broke the record by fourteenfold, according to researchers. Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation. They have frequencies... » read more

← Older posts