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nanotimes News in Brief
Researchers at UT Dallas (US) have designed an imager chip that could turn mobile phones into devices that can see through walls, wood, plastics, paper and other objects. The team’s research linked two scientific advances. One involves tapping into an unused range in the electromagnetic spectrum. The other is a new microchip technology.
The electromagnetic spectrum characterizes wave- lengths of energy. For example, radio waves for AM and FM signals, or microwaves used for cell phones or the infrared wavelength that makes night visi- on devices possible. But the terahertz band of the electromagnetic spectrum, one of the wavelength ranges that falls between microwave and infrared, has not been accessible for most consumer devices.
“We’ve created approaches that open a previously untapped portion of the electromagnetic spectrum for consumer use and life-saving medical applica- tions,” said Dr. Kenneth O, professor of electrical engineering at UT Dallas and director of the Texas Analog Center of Excellence (TxACE). “The tera- hertz range is full of unlimited potential that could benefit us all.”
Using the new approach, images can be created with signals operating in the terahertz (THz) range without having to use several lenses inside a device. This could reduce overall size and cost.
The research was presented at the most recent International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC).
12-04 :: April/May 2012
Xudong Fan and his research team at University of Michigan (US) developed a smart gas sensors for better chemical detection. The main advance of the sensor under development by Fan and his col- leagues at University of Michigan and the Univer- sity of Missouri, is a better approach to divvying up the chemicals. The researchers have demonstrated their concept on a table-top set-up, and they hope to produce a hand-held device in the future.
Their smart sensors fully identified gasses containing up to 20 different chemicals, as well as compounds emitted by plants.
Jing Liu, Maung Kyaw Khaing Oo, Karthik Reddy, Yo- gesh B. Gianchandani, Jack C. Schultz, Heidi M. Appel, and Xudong Fan: Adaptive Two-Dimensional Microgas Chromatography, In: Analytical Chemistry, Volume 84, Issue 9, May 1, 2012, Pages 4214-4220, DOI:10.1021/ ac300588z:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ac300588z http://www.bme.umich.edu/labs/fanlab/index.php
Researchers in China (East China University of Science and Technology and Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications) have develo- ped a straightforward light-scattering technique to estimate the size of gold nanoparticles. They developed a facile and real-time method for esti- mating the diameter of single gold nanoparticles (GNPs) that range from 35 to 110nm in diameter; this technique uses the chrominance of the GNP’s