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

Manufacturing Bits: July 5


World’s largest telescope China stunned the industry last month, when the nation rolled out the world’s fastest supercomputer. The system, dubbed the Sunway TaihuLight, is based on processors made in China, not Intel or other U.S. chipmakers. Now, China has nearly finished the construction of the world’s largest radio telescope. The system, dubbed the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Sphe... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: June 28


Redefining the kilogram The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a new scale that could one day enable a new and improved definition of the kilogram. The scale is called the NIST-4 watt balance. It has conducted its first measurement of a physical quantity called Planck’s constant to within 34 parts per billion. The scale is not intended to alter the va... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: June 21


Atomic sculpting Oak Ridge National Laboratory has combined a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) with new electronic controls. This tool enables the construction, or the atomic sculpting, of 3D-like feature sizes down to 1nm and 2nm. To achieve these dimensions, the STEM is controlled with a special set of programmable electronics. This, in turn, enables the STEM to tunnel in... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: June 14


3D printed neural networks The European Commission has launched a program that will replicate the brain’s neural network using 3D nano-printing. The program, dubbed the MESO-BRAIN consortium, has received an award of €3.3 million in funding from the European Commission. This research, led by Aston University, also involves Axol Bioscience, Laser Zentrum, the University of Barcelona, th... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: June 7


Intel’s spintronic spectrometer Intel and Stanford University have presented the first results for a technology called a ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectrometer. Initially invented and developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), FMR examines the properties of materials for spintronic-based memories. Today’s DRAMs store binary data in tiny capacitors. I... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: May 31


Superconducting magnets The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) has broken another world’s magnet record. This time, MagLab broke a record for a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coil operating inside a high-field resistive magnet. With the technology, the agency achieved a magnetic field of 40.2 teslas. The previous record was 35.4 teslas. Tesla, or T, is the measuremen... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: May 24


Microbunching EUV Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have provided a status report on its ongoing efforts to develop a steady-state microbunching (SSMB) technology. SSMB is a technology used within a storage ring, which is a large-scale, circular particle accelerator. An SSMB mechanism produces a high-power radiation source within the ring. This, in turn, could enable a... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: May 17


Isolating diamondoids Stanford and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are finding new ways to isolate diamondoids. Diamondoids, which are tiny specks of diamond, are found in petroleum fluids. The smallest diamondoid consists of 10 atoms. A diamondoid weighs less than a billionth of a billionth of a carat. A carat is a unit of mass equal to 200 mg. [caption id="attachment_27544" ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: May 10


Diamond polarimeters The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) has achieved what it says are the highest precision measurements of polarization in an atom smasher. The measurements were conducted with an instrument called a Hall C Compton Polarimeter. The polarimeter makes use of electron-photon scattering techniques and diamond-based microstrip detectors. The g... » read more

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