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nanotimes News in Brief

with a 7mm wavelength, creating ideal conditions for the observation of a hologram.

The ionization process produces the electrons over a finite time interval of a few femtoseconds. The- oretical calculations under the guidance of MBI Junior Group leader Olga Smirnova show, that the time dependence of the ionization process is en- coded in the holograms, as well as possible changes in the ion between the time that the ionization occurs and the time that the object wave interacts with the ion. This suggests a big future promise for the new technique. As Vrakking states: “So far, we have demonstrated that holograms can be produced in experiments with intense lasers. In the future we have to learn, how to extract all the information that is contained in the holograms. This may lead to novel methods to study attosecond time-scale elec- tron dynamics, as well as novel methods to study time-dependent structural changes in molecules.” Y. Huismans, A. Rouzée, A. Gijsbertsen, J.H. Jungmann, A. S. Smolkowska, P. S. W. M. Logman, F. Lépine, C. Cauchy, S. Zamith, T. Marchenko, J. M. Bakker, G. Ber- den, B. Redlich, A.F.G. van der Meer, H. G. Muller, W. Vermin, K.J. Schafer, M. Spanner, M. Yu. Ivanov, O. Smirnova, D. Bauer, S. V. Popruzhenko and M. J. J. Vr- akking: Time-Resolved Holography with Photoelectrons, In: Science Express, December 16, 2010, DOI:10.1126/ science.1198450:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1198450

The chemical industry through the ICCA is com- mitted by its global program on Responsible Care and the Global Product Strategy (GPS) to the safe management of chemicals in their entire life cycle. To achieve this, transparency in communication is

11-01 :: December 2010 / January 2011

critical and the ICCA GPS Chemicals Portal offers the general public and ICCA members direct access to product stewardship information.

To date more than 1000 chemical safety summaries are available and the number of substances covered is increasing daily. http://www.icca-chem.org/en/Home/ICCA-initiatives/ global-product-strategy/

Researchers at Eindhoven University of Techno- logy (TU/e) and the COBRA research institute in Eindhoven (Netherlands) have succeeded in causing electron transport using an electronic ‘ratchet’. This is the first time that usable powers have been generated at room temperature with a device of this kind. The finding opens the possibility of a new kind of wireless drive for microelectronic circuits.

The article in Nature Materials shows that in prin- ciple undirected electrical forces (caused by an alternating voltage) can cause a net movement of electrons in a single direction. Effectively this means that a direct current is generated by an alternating voltage.

This is the first time that usable voltages (sufficient to power a logic circuit, as the researchers have demonstrated) have been generated at room tem- perature with this kind of periodical, undirected force. Up to now very low temperatures have been required, and only a fraction of the power achieved by Roeling and Kemerink has been generated. The researchers used a modified organic field-effect transistor for their experiments, where electrodes