New study presents transformative metasurface based on zerogap embedded template
2021-07-06
(Press-News.org) A research team, led by Professor Dai-Sik Kim in the Department of Physics at UNIST has developed a new technique of predefining the crack pattern on a flexible substrate by a sequential deposition of metallic layers which leads to a formation of a "zero-nanometer gap, or a "zerogap," between the adjacent lateral patterns.
These gaps, according to the research team, readily open and recover with gentle bending and relaxing of the flexible substrate, precisely along the rims of the pre-patterns of centimeter lengths. Furthermore, in a prototypical pattern of densely packed slit arrays, these gaps serve as antennas achieving transparency for polarizations perpendicular to the length of the gap when opened and shut off all the incident lights when closed. These gaps are also fully tunable and healable from widths of zero nanometers to all the way up to several hundreds of nanometers, leading to a very high modulation depth throughout many times of repeated modulations, noted the research team.
Unlike most reconfigurable metasurfaces, which suffer from fatigue and gradual decline in performances after repeated operations, ZET is effectively fatigue-free and can readily be used in industrial applications where durability of the sample is crucial. Indeed, when the research team investigated the durability of their ZET samples, they exhibited an improved performance over time even after 10,000 repeated stretching/bending cycles.
"While we used an array of slits as a test system in this study, the method can readily be extended to any type of pattern with closed loops such as coaxial apertures, ring resonators, or grooves," noted the research team. "Thus, our zerogap technology bears the potential to significantly improve all kinds of active optical components and therefore finds numerous applications in electromagnetic wave shielding, polarization conversion, and active filters as well as in quantum transport studies resulting from deep sub-nanometer-wide gaps."
INFORMATION:
This study has been carried out jointly by Seoul National University and Kangwon National University with the support of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF). It was made available in March 2021, ahead of final publication in the June 2021 issue of Advanced Optical Materials.
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-07-06
Chemical elements make up pretty much everything in the physical world. As of 2016, we know of 118 elements, all of which can be found categorized in the famous periodic table that hangs in every chemistry lab and classroom.
Each element in the periodic table appears as a one-, two-letter abbreviation (e.g. O for oxygen, Al for aluminum) along with its atomic number, which shows how many protons there are in the element's nucleus. The number of protons is enormously important, as it also determines how many electrons orbit the nucleus, which essentially makes the element what it is and gives it its chemical properties. In short, the atomic number is an element's ID card.
The periodic table ...
2021-07-06
A new organic (carbon-based) semiconducting material has been developed that outperforms existing options for building the next generation of biosensors. An international research team led by KAUST is the first to overcome some critical challenges in developing this polymer.
Much research effort is currently expended into novel types of biosensors that interact directly with the body to detect key biochemicals and serve as indicators of health and disease.
"For a sensor to be compatible with the body, we need to use soft organic materials with ...
2021-07-06
Networks of ground-based sensors paired with airborne drones could give firefighters a critical edge when battling wildfires, KAUST researchers have found. The sensor/unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) network could significantly shorten the time taken to detect a wildfire, giving firefighters a better chance to contain the fire before it grows too large to control.
Wildfire detection is currently performed mainly by satellite imaging and remote cameras, but these technologies can be impeded by cloudy weather and fires can grow to a considerable size before they are spotted. With the recent significant global ...
2021-07-06
The surprising results of a decade-long investigation by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato provide a strong basis for advancing a project researching Leonardo da Vinci's DNA.
Their extensive study, published by the journal "Human Evolution" (Pontecorboli Editore, Florence), documents with new certainty the continuous male line, from father to son, of the Da Vinci family (later Vinci), from progenitor Michele (born 1331) to grandson Leonardo (6th generation, born 1452) through to today -- 21 generations in all, including five family branches -- and identifies 14 living descendants.
The work fills gaps and corrects errors in previous genealogical research into Leonardo's family, while ...
2021-07-06
A new study shows how urbanisation has influenced anthropogenic CO2 and air pollutant emissions across all world regions, by making use of the latest developments in the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR, https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/) developed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. The results show that by 2015 urban centres were the source of a third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gases, and the majority of air pollutant emissions.
The authors, from institutions in France and Italy, used the EDGAR database to provide a country-to-global ...
2021-07-06
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden publish new findings in the journal Cancer Discovery showing how pharmacological activation of the protein p53 boosts the immune response against tumours. The results can be of significance to the development of new combination therapies that will give more cancer patients access to immunotherapy.
Given its ability to react to damage to cellular DNA and the key part it is thought to play in preventing tumour growth, the protein p53 has been dubbed the "guardian of the genome". Half of all tumours have mutations in the gene that codes for the protein, and in many other tumours, p53 is disabled by another protein, MDM2.
It has long been known ...
2021-07-06
Scientists have taken the first steps in developing a new method of identifying the movements of criminals using chemical analysis of soil and dust found on equipment, clothing and cars. The locating system allows police or security services to match soil remnants found on personal items to regional soil samples, to either implicate or eliminate presence at a crime scene. The work is presented as a Keynote Lecture at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference, after recent publication.
Dr Patrice de Caritat, Principal Research Scientist at Geoscience Australia, Australia's public sector geoscience organisation, said:
"We've ...
2021-07-06
A unique study of ancient diamonds has shown that the basic chemical composition of the Earth's atmosphere which makes it suitable for life's explosion of diversity was laid down at least 2.7 billion years ago. Volatile gases conserved in diamonds found in ancient rocks were present in similar proportions to those found in today's mantle, which in turn indicates that there has been no fundamental change in the proportions of volatiles in the atmosphere over the last few billion years. This shows that one of the basic conditions necessary to support life, the presence of life-giving elements in sufficient quantity, appeared soon after Earth formed, and has remained fairly constant ever since.
Presenting the work at the Goldschmidt ...
2021-07-06
Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.
1. Infusion centers associated with substantially better outcomes than the ER for patients with acute pain events and sickle cell disease
Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-7171
Editorial: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M21-2650
Summary: ...
2021-07-05
LAWRENCE -- A new paper from a lead author based at the University of Kansas finds wetlands constructed along waterways are the most cost-effective way to reduce nitrate and sediment loads in large streams and rivers. Rather than focusing on individual farms, the research suggests conservation efforts using wetlands should be implemented at the watershed scale.
The paper, just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, relied on computer modeling to examine the Le Sueur River Basin in southern Minnesota, a watershed subject to runoff from intense agricultural production of corn and soybeans -- crops characteristic of the entire ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] New study presents transformative metasurface based on zerogap embedded template