Researchers have combined two unlikely materials to make a digital switch that could improve high speed computing.

Researches have developed a new method for optical communication on a chip, which will give a possibility to decrease the size of optical and optoelectronic elements and increase the computer performance several tenfold. According to their article, they have proposed the way to completely eliminate energy losses of surface plasmons in optical devices.

Compact optical transmission possibilities are of great interest in faster and more energy-efficient data exchange between electronic chips. One component serving this application is the Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) which is able to convert electronic into optical signals. Scientists developed a plasmonic MZM of only 12.5 micrometers length which converts digital signals at a rate of 108 gigabit per second.

Loads of cosmetics like sunscreen lotions contain titanium dioxide. These nanoparticles are contentious. Experts suspect they may have harmful effects on people and the environment. But it is difficult to prove that the particles are in the lotions. Using a new method, these particles can now be calculated.

As the demand grows for ever smaller, smarter electronics, so does the demand for understanding materials’ behavior at ever smaller scales. Physicists are building a unique optical magnetometer to probe magnetism at the nano- and mesoscale.

A transparent electrode with high electrical conductivity has been developed for solar cells and other optoelectronic components — that uses minimal amounts of material. It consists of a random network of silver nanowires that is coated with aluminium-doped zinc oxide. The novel electrode requires about 70 times less silver than conventional silver grid electrodes, but possesses comparable electrical conductivity.

Nanoscale worlds sometimes resemble macroscale roller-coaster style hills, placed at the tip of a series of hexagons. Surprisingly, these nanohills stem from the self-organization of particles — the very particles that have been eroded and subsequently redeposited following the bombardment of semi-conductors with ion beams. Now, a new theoretical study constitutes the first exhaustive investigation of the redeposition effect on the evolution of the roughening and smoothing of two-dimensional surfaces bombarded by multiple ions.

Precise targeting biological molecules, such as cancer cells, for treatment is a challenge, due to their sheer size. Now, scientists have proposed an advanced solution that can potentially be applied to thermal cancer therapy. An improved sensing technique for nanometer-scale heating and temperature sensing uses a chemical method to attach gold nanorods to the surface of a diamond nanocrystal, the authors have invented a new biocompatible nanodevice.

Using a hybrid silica sol-gel material and self-assembled monolayers of a common fatty acid, researchers have developed a new capacitor dielectric material that provides an electrical energy storage capacity rivaling certain batteries, with both a high energy density and high power density.

Graphene has been called the miracle material but the single-atomic layer material is still seeking its place in the materials world. Now a method to make ‘defective’ graphene could provide the answer. Scientists now report that they have developed a simple electrochemical approach which allows defects to intentionally be created in the graphene, altering its electrical and mechanical properties and making the material even more useful.