15 October 2012

2012 Physics Nobel Prize

Few days ago, the new Nobel Prize in Physics was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. This year Serge Haroche (left in the picture) of the College of France in Paris, and David Wineland (right in the picture) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, have been awarded for the ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems.
They have independently invented and developed methods for measuring and manipulating individual particles while preserving their quantum-mechanical nature, in ways that were previously thought unattainable. Haroche uses atoms as a sensitive probe of light particles trapped in a cavity, whereas Wineland takes the opposite approach, using light to measure the quantum states of atoms. Their ground-breaking methods have enabled to take the very first steps towards building a new type of super fast computer based on quantum physics. Perhaps the quantum computer will change our everyday lives in this century in the same radical way as the classical computer did in the last century. The research has also led to the construction of extremely precise clocks that could become the future basis for a new standard of time, with more than hundred-fold greater precision than present-day caesium clocks.

14 October 2012

Progress with Graphene

Since its discovery, graphene has been the most promising material under development nowadays. Its supreme properties make it suitable for a wide range of applications that could revolutionise many current technologies. However, switching to a new technology is usually a lengthy and expensive process that could present many inconveniences. Novoselov, the Nobel laureate, et al. analyse this fact and review the current progress in grapehene in a recently published article in Nature.
 Some of these promising applications are:
  • Flexible electronics: Graphene (highly doped samples) shows sheet resistance of 30 ohm per square and excellent transmittance of 97.7% per layer. Graphene also has outstanding mechanical flexibility and strength, what makes it suitable for rollable devices.
  • Photodetectors: Graphene can be used for a wide spectral range from ultraviolet to infrared, with a high operating bandwidth, which makes it suitable for high-speed data communications.
  • Paints: Graphene-based paints can be used for conductive ink, antistatic, electromagnetic-interference shielding, and gas barrier applications. In addition, over the next few years chemical derivatives of graphene will be developed to control the conductivity and optical opacity of the products.
  • Supercapacitors: Graphene offers high intrinsic electrical conductivity, an accessible and defined pore structure, good resistance to oxidative processes and high temperature stability
Although, a lot of applications exists, it will take some few years till new graphene products impact the market. It is likely that printable and flexible electronics, flexible solar cells and supercapacitors will be the first ones to appear.