Saturday, October 20, 2018

Controlled Nanoscale Manipulation in High-Powered Microscopes


By developing a way to better measure and manipulate conductive materials through scanning tunneling microscopy, Researchers from Japan have taken a step toward faster and more advanced electronics. In scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), Placing of a conducting tip close to the surface of the conductive material to be imaged. By creating a "tunnel junction" between the two through which electrons travel a voltage is applied through the tip to the surface.

To provide the scientist with a better understanding of the atomic structure of the material being imaged the shape and position of the tip, the voltage strength, the conductivity and density of the material's surface all come together.The scientist should be able to change the variables to manipulate the material itself with that information.Till now the precise manipulation is a problem.Within the desired electrical current, the custom terahertz pulse cycle designed by the researchers quickly oscillates between near and far fields.




A scientist said "The active control and characterization of near fields in a tunnel junction are essential for advancing elaborate manipulation of light-field-driven processes at the nanoscale."Via terahertz scanning tunneling microscopy with a phase shifter, we demonstrated that desirable phase-controlled near fields can be produced in a tunnel junction."

Previous studies assumed that spatially and temporally the near and far fields were the same. Along with examining the fields closely the Team identified that there was a difference between the two and realized that to switch the current to the near field, the fast laser pulse could prompt the needed phase shift of the terahertz pulse.

For optical storage media in DVDs and Blu-ray as well as next-generation ultrafast electronics and microscopies the phase change materials used. So the scientists said their work holds enormous promise for advancing strong-field physics in nano-scale solid state systems.

Friday, October 12, 2018

The swarms of Nano machines could help in improving the efficiency of any machine


Energy conversion happens in all machines as it converts from one form of energy to another form. As per thermodynamics the energy conversion process take place on the macro-level of big machines as well as at the micro-level of molecular machines that drive muscles or metabolic processes and even on the atomic level. Some scientists study that the thermodynamics of Nanomachines consisting of only a few atoms which outline how these small machines behave in concert. To improve the energy efficiency of all kinds of machines that means big or small, their insights could be used.


The current progress in nanotechnology has a vital role in designing and manufacturing of extremely small artificial machines and to understand the world at ever-smaller scales. As cars, these machines are far more efficient than large machines. As we have in daily life applications the output is low compared to the needs in absolute term. This is the reason we studied how the Nano machines interact with each other and looked at how ensembles of those small machines behave. If there are synergies when they act in concert, it should be observed.

Under certain conditions the researchers found that the nanomachines, synchronise their movements and start to arrange in "swarms". The synchronisation of the machines triggers significant synergy effects could be seen for which the overall energy output of the ensemble is far greater than the sum of the individual outputs. The researcher explains that while this is a basic research, the principles outlined in the paper could potentially be used to improve the efficiency of any machine in the future.

The scientists created mathematical models that are based on existing literature and outcomes of experimental research in order to simulate and study the energetic behaviour of swarms of Nanomachines.

Friday, October 5, 2018

Nanoscale Resonator to detect Dangerous Chemicals


Most insects have tiny hairs on their body but it is not clear what the hairs are for. Scientists are  trying to make sense of what these hairs may be capable of, so they designed experiment involving“forest” of tiny hairs on a thin vibrating crystal chip. They were thinking that this device can work like a smaller and cheaper spectrometer, measuring chemicals in the parts-per-million range.” Using resonators as sensors, because it’s highly undesirable most people want to get rid of dissipation or friction, it tends to obscure what you are trying to measure. Scientists have taken that undesirable thing and made it useful.”

“Without chemical receptors, sensing chemicals has been a challenge in normal conditions, scientists realized that in the frictional loss of a mechanical resonator in motion, there is a wealth of information contained and it is more pronounced at the nanoscale.”Any object moving rapidly through the air can probe the properties of the surrounding environment. We can imagine a wand in your hand and moving it back and forth, and even just by feeling the resistance and with our eyes closed we can feel whether the wand is moving through air, honey or water. When picturing this wand with billions of tiny hairs on it, moving back and forth several million times per second and just imagine the sensing possibilities. With the nanostructures, we can feel that tiny changes in the air surrounding the resonator. “This device will be useful for detecting a wide variety of chemicals by the sensitivity.”


For sensing by living organisms, similar mechanisms involving motions of nano-hairs may be used because the friction is changing dramatically with time changes with the environmental and It is easy to measure, it may be possible to designed to plug into a wall and eventually produce a gadget of the similar size or slightly larger than a Rubik’s cube and Presently to sensing chemical vapours in air, the group’s device is geared primarily. Versatility sets the device apart from larger and more expensive equipment, Apart from size and reasonable cost. “Because our sensor is not directed to detect any specific chemical and it doesn’t require that we actually attach the molecules to anything to create a mechanical response, it can interpret a broad range, meaning that it’s also reusable.