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Showing posts from December, 2025

Chiral iontronics: Electrically inducing/ reversing chirality in naturally non-chiral materials using an Electric Double-Layer Transistor

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-chirality-electricity-voltage-driven-method.html "naturally achiral molybdenum disulfide single crystal semiconductor in chiral ionic liquid containing specific right-handed or left-handed molecular ions... positive voltage applied to transistor's gate electrode forces chiral ion accumulation on crystal's surface imprinting ions' handedness onto electronic state of crystal surface without permanent bonding... achieved Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity allowing only electrons with specific spin direction through/ Electrical Magnetochiral Effect... new way to control electron spin"

Record-breaking operational stability of halide perovskite solar cells achieved by using MEM-MIM-Cl molecule "molten salt" ionic liquid

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-ionic-liquids-perovskite-degradation-solar.html " acts as multi-functional additive during fabrication: binds to positively charged lead ions filling halide vacancies, added to perovskite precursor slows down crystallization for larger grains/ fewer imperfections, additive migrates to bottom (buried) interface, suppressing defects where perovskite meets underlying layer... tested at 90°C, 1,500 hours simulated full sunlight: retained 90% initial performance... scalable: ionic liquid easy to synthesize/ compatible with large-area panel blade coating methods... tandem solar compatible"

Controlling exciton diffusivity/ flow in moiré superlattices by leveraging interaction between electrons and excitons

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-exciton-moir-superlattices-method-leverages.html "moiré superlattice: 2 layers dichalcogenides stacked with small rotational mismatch, creating periodic potential trapping electrons/ excitons, for easy charge-neutral exciton manipulation using electric fields... electrostatic doping (adjusting gate voltage) to change electron density radically alters how excitons move... when electrons dense forming Mott insulator, exciton diffusivity up to 100X greater... when electrons rigid/ Wigner crystal, exciton flow suppressed trapping energy... excitons, not electrons, as information carriers"

Single voltage-loop sensorless control in Power Factor Correction for AC /DC power simplifies hardware while maintaining high performance

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1110207 "bulky/ costly current sensor elimination... derives duty cycle using only inductor voltage equation, split into feedforward/ control components... built-in delay compensation ensures current/ voltage perfectly aligned... implements on standard digital signal processors avoiding complex mathematical observers/ models... 1.3 kW prototype: up to 0.9998 power factor, low 2.12% total harmonic distortion at full load, high tolerance for variations in circuit parameters, for scalability... slimmer laptop adapters, compact chargers"

Synthesizing MXenes atom-by-atom using Chemical Vapor Deposition for energy storage and electronics

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1110535 "at least 2 orders magnitude less expensive than etching away bulk materials' layers using caustic acids, 90% weight purity (was 60%), tetrachloroethylene safer/ more stable than highly reactive precursors... MXenes atomically thin highly conductive, ideal for: hosting ions between layers for faster-charging batteries, EM interference shielding/ optoelectronics, highly efficient catalysts in industrial chemistry"

Entangled Quantum Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning: Drones coordinate using quantum entanglement where traditional communication fails

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-quantum-entanglement-drones-disaster-relief.html "wireless signals/ fiber optics disrupted during wildfires/ natural disasters but not with instant entanglement information transmission not reliant on external network/ open internet... qubits store more complex environmental information like amplitudes/ phases (audio/ video from fire line) more efficiently than classical bits... change in entangled partner allows base station(s)/ rest of swarm to read it instantly... quantum/ classical technologies work together as single system... less energy-intensive AI, better data security"

Contact energy barriers, long considered a flaw in organic thin-film electronics, can be leveraged to make devices more stable and reliable

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109523 "maintaining small, controlled barrier at metal/ semiconductor interface allows operation in contact-controlled mode, significantly improving long-term consistency... shifting current flow control from semiconductor channel to contact interface enables aging effect/ voltage shift resistance caused by trapped charges... stays stable even at ≤-4 V... silver contacts, multimodal transistor designs allow for more uniform current between devices/ simpler circuit architectures... OLED/ microLED displays, wearable sensors"

Germanium-ion-implanted silicon waveguide photodiode solves performance trade-offs in on-chip light monitoring for programmable photonics

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1110614 "sensitivity signal loss trade-off solved, moving away from using boron/ phosphorus... bombard silicon waveguide with germanium ions, creating controlled defects, without having to add free carriers that degrade optical signals.... high sensitivity in both O-band (1,310 nm) and C-band (1,550 nm), ultra-low absorption ensuring strong primary data signal, minimal electrical noise when no light present, low bias voltage reducing power consumption... programmable photonic networks, medical diagnostics, lab-on-chip"

Synthesizing complex high-entropy nanomaterials containing up to 30 different metals in one minute at room temperature

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-driven-method-rapidly-complex-nanomaterials.html "replaces extreme heat/ pressure with sustainable, CO₂-driven chemical reaction bridge bonding disparate metal ions normally difficult to combine due to varying atomic sizes... add hydroxide ions, stir forming metal carbonate nanoparticles exhibiting non-crystalline highly disordered structure, often superior for chemical reactions... scalable, low-cost manufacturing, eco-friendly, enhanced durability/ catalytic efficiency... hydrogen production/ more efficient battery electrodes, semiconductors"

Organic State-Independent Electrolytes challenge fundamental rule that ions necessarily move slower when a liquid freezes into a solid

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109726 "when electrolyte solidifies its molecules lock into place significantly hindering ion movement, overcome by maintaining constant ionic conductivity across liquid, liquid-crystal, solid phases... organic molecules with flat, disc-shaped center surrounded by long, flexible side-chains... positive charge spread evenly across molecule, preventing grabbing negative ions too tightly... molecules stack into rigid columns, but flexible side-chains provide enough space for negative ions to flow through them, even at lower temperature"

LightGen all-optical chip for advanced generative AI addresses massive power/ speed bottlenecks currently facing traditional electronic hardware

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109809 "more flexibility, utilizing optical latent space/ Bayes-based training algorithms... scalable to dimensionality of optical network... high density, integrating >2 million photonic neuron-mimicking structures... high-resolution image synthesis, video manipulation/ style transfer, advanced denoising... performs tasks with speed/ energy-efficiency several orders magnitude higher than current electronic GPUs/ AI accelerators... significant step toward making large-scale generative AI more sustainable and faster"

MetaLitho3D nanofabrication platform scales 2-photon lithography from a slow laboratory process to a high-speed, wafer-scale manufacturing tool

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-team-shatters-3d-nanofabrication-limits.html ">120K metalense array (ultrathin optical elements) splits single laser into thousands of coordinated focal spots... prints across cm-scale areas simultaneously rather than point-by-point... throughput 1,000X faster while maintaining sub-μm precision, feature sizes as small as 113 nm... spatial light modulator enables real-time intensity control of each individual beam... prints non-periodic, complex, stochastic structures (like 16 chess openings at once), quantum computing, fuel capsules (fusion energy), biomedicine, microelectronics" Related: Goodbye stereolithography: Scientists develop a faster and finer way to 3d print metal https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1110463

Camera captures electron dynamics at record near-instantaneous speed, using record short 19.2-attosecond record bright soft X-ray pulse

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1110364 "soft X-rays identify/ track specific atoms, observing how electrons reorganize during chemical reactions/ phase transitions in real-time... utilizes high-harmonic generation, advanced laser engineering, new pulse retrieval method... observes how: molecular rings open during polymerization, electrons interact with crystal lattices in solids, dynamics driving quantum devices, processes powering PV/ catalysis... operates below atomic unit of time... physics, chemistry, biology, quantum, material/ drug design"

It is feasible to send quantum entangled light signals from Earth to a satellite, paving the way for stronger quantum communication networks

https://www.uts.edu.au/news/2025/11/scientists-reveal-it-is-possible-to-beam-up-quantum-signals "satellite downlinks limited by hardware size/ power (suitable for just sending secret keys), overcome by first uploading, despite atmospheric interference/ signal loss, then downlinks... greater bandwidth with access to more power/ cooling, lower satellite costs (only re-directs), easier maintenance since at ground... aligns 2 single light particles from separate ground stations to meet on satellite traveling 20,000 km/h... allows quantum computers to plug into global network for massive distributed computations across continents"

China’s ultra-hot thermoacoustic Stirling heat pump, with no moving parts, could turn sunlight into 2,372°F thermal power for industries

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/china-heat-pump-turns-sunlight-into-heat "heat source: twaste heat or solar energy... converts 293°F heat source into 518°F, shattering the previous 392°F limit... instead of mechanical compressors, uses interaction between sound waves/ heat converting thermal energy into intense acoustic waves to pump heat from a low-temperature source to a high-temperature sink... ceramics, petrochemicals and metallurgy... future: 2,372°F by 2040"

Ruthenium dioxide thin films exhibit altermagnetism, furnishing high density/ speed/ energy efficiency, in data storage for AI and data centers

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1110089 "0 net magnetization (like antiferromagnets) but with spin-split electronic structures (like ferromagnets), best of both: stable, high-density, easy to read electrically... poor sample quality overcome using sapphire substrates/ precise growth conditions to align all crystal axes... memory cells packed much closer together without interfering with each another since no stray magnetic fields... altermagnets inherently faster switching speeds than ferromagnets... future: discover other altermagnetic materials" Related: Flat Fermi surface in altermagnets enables quantum limit spin currents https://phys.org/news/2025-12-flat-fermi-surface-altermagnets-enables.html

Breakthrough in rear-contact thin-film tin monosulfide solar cells resolves major limitation by introducing a nanometric layer of germanium oxide

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1110092 "non-toxic, low-cost, stable, less electrical loss... larger, more uniform grains enhances charge transport/ collection... at interface between molybdenum back contact/ thin-film absorber: unwanted chemical reactions/ unintended atomic movement, overcome using 7-nm thick germanium oxide interlayer created exploiting oxidation during vapor transport deposition... 4.81% (was 3.71) Power Conversion Efficiency... contact resistance: thin-film transistors; PCE: thermoelectric; performance: photodetector/ memory devices"

Spiking neural network AI is fast, lightweight, and low power (energy efficient), with hardware, circuits, and algorithms co-designed together

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1110024 "mimics neuron Compute-in-Memory: digital logic more accurate but uses more energy than analog... versatile platforms switching between traditional/ neuro-inspired networks based on application... only communicates (sends spike) when electrical charge (membrane potential) reaches threshold... responds to irregular/ occasional events (sparse signals) enabling AI to operate onboard device (like drone), outside large data centers/ cloud... event-Based cameras send data only when pixel change detected"

Transparent ceramics exhibiting efficient electro-optic effect, which is the ability to control or bend light when an electrical voltage is applied

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-transparent-ceramic-boost-internet-energy.html "cheaper, easier manufacture at scale, better chemical composition control... faster, smaller, more energy-efficient... contain tiny, dynamic few atoms wide polarization pockets fluctuating continuously... zentropy theory: with small, fluctuating pockets, extremely low energy barrier required for polarization to flip, allowing almost instant polarization adjustment under applied electric field... optical communications, sensing, medical imaging, optical modulators/ switches... future: make lead-free, replace lithium niobate"

Creating magnetic optics using Ion Beam Sputtering and Magnetotaxial Anisotropy, for faster/ more energy-efficient data-center communications

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-nanoscale-magnetic-mazes-center-communications.html "enables depositing cerium-substituted yttrium iron magnetic garnet films onto substrates with different lattice mismatches (opposite strain types). with both films still exhibiting strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy...  film's magnetic direction primarily determined by magnetotaxial anisotropy (growth-related effect from how atoms arrange during deposition) which is >10X more important than substrate strain... magnetic domains orders of magnitude smaller, Faraday rotation 1.6X better, low saturation field"

Pressurized materials approach superconductivity at room temperature, for power grids, computers, sensors, communication, and quantum devices

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109988 "pressure forces the material's electrons closer together, unlocking extraordinary electronic behaviors... charge-density waves, collective electronic behaviors, typically weaken or disappear under pressure in similar materials, but in this specific material, this behavior not only strengthens under extreme pressure but also emerges at room temperature" Related: Physicists push superconducting diodes to high temperatures https://phys.org/news/2025-12-physicists-superconducting-diodes-high-temperatures.html Scientists unlocked a superconductor mystery under crushing pressure https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251219093328.htm

Achieving strong optical nonlinearities in silicon using an electron avalanche effect, enabling control of light with a single photon

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-optical-modulation-silicon-electron-avalanche.html "single free electron generated by 1 absorbed photon is accelerated by applying high voltage to silicon diode, gaining enough energy to collide with atoms/ create multiple additional free electrons in chain reaction... significantly amplifies resulting change in silicon's metallicity... effect modulates reflected intensity of 2nd, macroscopic optical beam, mimicking photonic transistor... increases silicon device's nonlinear refractive index, at room temperature, no optical cavity needed, CMOS fabrication compatible"

Dry-process that overcomes the limitations of wet and dry fabrication methods by introducing a dual-fibrous architecture within battery's electrode

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108298 "overcomes low mixing strength/ performance degradation by controlling polytetrafluoroethylene binder's structure rather than changing material itself... add small amount of binder forming thread-like fibrous network, densely connecting active material/ conductive additive, ensuring uniform dispersion/ mixing... then remaining binder added creating rope-like fiber binding entire electrode together, increasing electrode's strength/ stability... with pouch-type lithium metal anode 349 Wh/kg energy density, about 40% improved"

Using solution-processed 2D materials to print communication circuits, sensors, and signal-processing components

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-framework-2d-materials-printable-electronics.html "predicting 2D materials that can be successfully formed into nanosheets via electrochemical exfoliation... key factor: in-plane must be higher than out-of-plane stiffness" (resistance to: deformation vs. deformation perpendicular to material)... dozens of 2D semiconductors identified... printed transistors, and for 1st time printed: digital-to-analog converters, BASK communication circuits, wearable sensors, smart packaging, disposable IoT... future: reduce performance limits in junctions between nanosheets (flake-to-flake)"

Femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures improve heat dissipation by controlling thermal conductivity in thin-film solids

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-femtosecond-lasers-limits-nanostructures-thermal.html "manipulates/ scatters phonons (quasiparticles of vibrational energy that conduct heat) through small, parallel grooves (created via high-speed, powerful laser ablation) on silicon/ silica thin films... limits phonons' average travel distance reducing thermal conductivity... laser throughput >1,000X faster than single-beam electron-beam lithography... highly scalable wafer-level mass production: maskless, resist-free, CMOS-compatible... high-performance computing, on-chip energy conversion, quantum devices" Related: Cracking the mystery of heat flow in few-atoms thin materials https://phys.org/news/2025-12-mystery-atoms-thin-materials.html

Laser-induced magnetic property gradients using Direct-Write Laser Annealing for advanced data storage and computing technologies

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109121 heats areas down to 150 nm on thin magnetic films' surface... modulating laser's intensity can alter magnetization strength/ direction, change: oxidation, crystallization, alloying... 2D gradients/ arbitrary shapes (circles, spirals, snowflakes) of magnetic properties, previously limited to 1D gradients... spintronics, continuous magnetic gradient allows electric current (instead of magnetic field) to write/ read... in-memory computing, creates magnetic landscapes mimicking neurons, can change material's refractive index"

Iron telluride thin films made superconducting for stable qubits in quantum computer chips

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109236 "qubits in quantum chips rely on superconducting thin films with stable crystal structure... superconductive below -263°C... iron and telluride atoms deposited onto cadmium telluride substrate using molecular beam epitaxy... 20% lattice misalignment typically leads to defects, but instead resulted in superconducting film... led to higher-order epitaxial matching (alignment) between film/ substrate reducing lattice distortion, enabling superconductivity"

Design/ placement of quantum emitters at atomic scale within 2D hexagonal boron nitride, for quantum computing/ secure communication

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-atom-advance-quantum-emitter.html "Quantum Emitter Electron Nanomaterial Microscope in combination with cathodoluminescence spectroscopy... focused beam of electrons excites material causing it to emit single photons 1 at a time... twisting layers at specific angles creates twisted interfaces amplifying light up to 120X, pinpointing emitters' location emitters within <10 nm... create these emitters at chosen spots by adding carbon/ activating using electron beam... boosts signals/ improves information sharing efficiency in quantum systems"

Epitaxial growth technique for creating large-area, high-quality 2D molybdenum disulfide semiconductors

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-growth-strategy-enables-coherent-quantum.html "crystalline defects typically arise (coalescence) when small crystal regions (grains) merge... overcome combining epitaxial growth with precise control of coalescence kinetics on vicinal sapphire substrates yielding single-crystal molybdenum disulfide channels with minimal defects... exhibits coherent transport at low temperatures/ high 1,200 cm2 V−1 s−1 Hall mobility... used to fabricate arrays of field-effect transistors: 100 cm2 V−1 s−1 average mobility, 65 mV dec−1 minimum subthreshold swing at room temperature"

U.S.- built monolithic 3D chip offers significantly improved performance over traditional 2D chips and promises to advance AI hardware

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-monolithic-3d-chip-built-foundry.html "stacks ultra-thin memory/ computing units vertically, enabling fast, massive data movement between layers... layers built 1 on top of other in continuous, low-temperature process in commercial foundry... helps chip bypass the bottlenecks that have long slowed improvement in flat designs... outperforms comparable 2D chips 4X, up to 12X improvement on real AI workloads... 100 to 1,000X improvements in Energy-Delay Product metric balancing speed and energy efficiency" Related: CityUHK pioneers breakthrough in 3DIC semiconductor packaging materials https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109660

Combination of 2 similar compounds with different crystal symmetries exhibits complex magnetic patterns known as skyrmion-like spin textures

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109423 "structural frustration at interface of 2 compounds: manganese/ cobalt/ germanium, and manganese/ cobalt/ arsenic... translates to magnetic frustration causing atomic spins to twist, creating desired magnetic properties for: high-density hard drives, reduced power consumption for data centers as moving skyrmions requires little energy, materials for fault-tolerant quantum computing"

Microelectronics fabrication that significantly improves energy efficiency by stacking active components on the back end of a computer chip

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109566 "logic (transistors)/ memory fabricated in 1 compact stack on 1 chip... 2 nm thick amorphous indium oxide active channel layer grown at relatively cool 150°C preventing damage to existing front-end circuitry, minimized defects (oxygen vacancies)... added ferroelectric hafnium-zirconium-oxide layer, ending up with 20 nm back-end transistors with built-in memory, 10 ns switching speed, lower voltage... generative AI, deep learning, computer vision... future: integrate these back-end memory transistors onto single circuit"

Microscopic-size optical phase modulator enables efficient control of lasers required to operate many qubits for large-scale quantum computers

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109604 "quantum computers using trapped-ion or trapped-neutral-atom systems rely on precise laser beams to communicate with and control individual qubits... uses microwave-frequency vibrations to manipulate laser light... generating, with high stability and efficiency, many copies of laser with slightly different frequencies... higher density of components, scalable CMOS fabrication, high efficiency consuming 80X less microwave power, reduced heat allowing more channels placed close together on single chip"

Memristor-based computing-in-memory accelerator speeds up compressed sensing at the edge by overcoming traditional von Neumann bottleneck

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109311 "CMOS inefficient for compressed sensing reconstruction due to high energy/ latency caused by data shuttling between processor/ memory)... overcome using memCS: 128Kb memristor chip with CIM architecture executing core CS calculations directly within memory... 31.11 dB peak signal-to-noise ratio, 94.2% classification accuracy, closely matching pure software implementations... 11.22X faster, 30.46X more energy-efficient... excels in power-constrained edge computing scenarios"

Probabilistic bits (p-bits) made dramatically more efficient by being fully digital, for artificial intelligence and machine learning

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109250 "P-bits hardware elements naturally fluctuate between 0 & 1, so ideal for optimization/ inference, but rely on bulky, power-hungry, expensive digital-to-analog converters... overcome using magnetic tunnel junctions  naturally switching between 2 states randomly, a 50/50 bitstream fed into simple digital circuit that uses controlled timing combining signals, allowing smooth tuning probability of output being 0 or 1... requires significantly less area and power while being compatible with modern semiconductor manufacturing"

Replacing fragile/ expensive indium tin oxide with single-walled carbon nanotubes in flexible perovskite solar cells

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109310 "more efficient, durable, scalable, cheaper... sulfuric acid applied to nanotube films, improving electrical conductivity, maintaining high transparency, stabilizing nickel-based interfacial layer, which improves connection between internal cell components, >20% power conversion efficiency... after month of heat, humidity, sunlight, retained > 95% initial performance, when repeatedly bent 1,000X lost only about 5% efficiency, roll-to-roll chemical vapor deposition 6X cheaper than ITO sputtering (by $200/ m2), scalable"

Maximizing metallene stability in nanomaterials for advanced electronics, high-efficiency energy storage, sensors, and catalysis

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108851 "extreme thinness/ tendency to collapse due to metallic bonding makes synthesis difficult, overcome combining quantum-mechanical modeling/ machine learning... interface stability with smooth well-aligned geometries at metallene edges, most robust interfaces overall use transition metals, machine-learning accurately predicts atomic-level interface behavior... accelerates synthesis of more robust, larger-scale metallene structures... high-performance devices in: high-tech electronics, energy conversion, biomedicine"

Simple/ inexpensive process for manufacturing highly efficient magnetic nanomaterials that have their magnetic moments (spins) vertically aligned

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-nanomagnet-production-efficiency.html "greater efficiency/ higher density than horizontal alignment... ion beam magnetic engraving imprints magnetic nanostrips onto iron-vanadium alloy thin film... ion beam locally orders atoms into crystal lattice, making bombarded areas ferromagnetic... reduced nanostrip widths to 25 nm, forcing magnetic moments to stand out vertically from surface... increased data storage density, increased efficiency especially in spintronics, enhanced sensitivity, cost-effective... magnetic storage, sensors, spin-based quantum computing"

Ferroelectric polarization and mobile ion interaction enables tunable optical control of copper indium phosphide sulfide components

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109148 "materials can be engineered with mobile ions to modulate their internal fields, furthering light sculpting across various wavelengths... could form the basis for tunable UV/ blue components in integrated electro-optics... control method: tuning of these components would be controlled not just by traditional electronics (electrons), but by the motion of ions within the crystal, which is only billionths of a meter thick... also control of how much the crystal slows and bends light... also applies to other types of components"

Spectra adaptive supercomputer features 128 of NextSilicon’s Maverick-2 dual-die accelerators which analyze code to prioritize tasks in real time

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108915 "fundamentally different approach to data processing that does not treat all data equally... up to 10X performance improvements at half the power without requiring users to rewrite their applications... national security tasks, such as advanced fluid dynamics simulations helping assess nuclear deterrent safety/ reliability without underground testing... more sophisticated/ efficient simulations... scalable, featuring innovative server/ advanced cooling... smarter, more adaptive designs rather than just bigger machines"

Slowing light propagation on photonic chips using optical cavity resonators to store light for longer time benefits both classical & quantum photonics

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-reconfigurable-platform-chip-photonic.html "extending light storage time crucial for quantum memory... on-chip vital for robustness, deployability, manufacturability... light loss from chips' defects overcome utilizing slow-light effect on-chip (reducing velocity nearly 1,000X) extending propagation time using spectral hole burning... achieved using erbium-doped lithium niobate, exhibiting high density/ coherence... tunable/ reconfigurable repeatedly over large bandwidth without needing to fabricate new device for each different application"

Doping cesium lead bromide perovskite quantum dots with manganese to make them magnetic and enhance their magnetic properties

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109000 "removing positively charged cesium cations from quantum dots creating bromide-rich solution, then manganese cations added enabling dots to absorb magnetic cations into their structure, displacing about 40% of lead ions, resulting in magnetic, cheap, scalable, near 100% efficient manganese-doped quantum dots... lighting: energy-efficient dots glow in desirable warmer, orange hues... solar cells: increased efficiency... quantum computers: magnetic dots as stable qubits... cheaper/ scalable (no protective stabilizing coating)"

Quantum computing hybrid nuclear-electron spin platform utilizes nuclear spin (intrinsic angular momentum) of Tungsten-183 atoms as qubits

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-solid-state-quantum-processor-based.html "each nuclei sits close to rare-earth ion Er3+, which carries unpaired electron spin, much easier to manipulate/ detect than nuclear spin, so it acts as amplifier for nuclear spin... atoms located within calcium tungstate crystal, which is placed on top of superconducting microwave resonator used to manipulate quantum states... no need for additional optical transition (as in NV centers) or particular electrical properties (as in semiconductor donors)... very long coherence (seconds)... improves sensitivity/ performance"

AI is resolving significant challenges in optical metasurface development from individual unit-cell design to complete system-level integration

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108474 "unit-cell level: surrogate modeling accelerates electromagnetic response prediction, inverse design frameworks explore complex solution spaces, robust design methods improve stability against manufacturing errors... system-level: AI unified differentiable framework integrates structural design physical propagation models, task-specific loss functions... AI shifting metasurface design from staged methods to intelligent, collaborative, system-level optimization... compact/ computational imaging, AR/VR displays, LiDAR"

High-performance, eco-friendly, scalable method for creating directional 3D macroporous carbon foams for superior EM wave absorption

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108271 "avoids complex, energy-intensive, unidirectional freezing... discarded egg white precursor, self-assembly (salting-out protein)... yields directional 1–7 µm macroporous channels enhancing impedance matching/ EM wave attenuation when EM waves propagate parallel to channels... WC1-x nanoparticles formed (tunable) during pyrolysis/ uniformly dispersed on carbon matrix, improving energy dissipation... record minimum reflection loss, wide absorption bandwidth... radar stealth, chip anti-interference"

Photonic compute-in-wire: remotely driven photonic deep neural network with single nonlinear loop for in-network/ in-fiber ML computations

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108469 "computes while data in transit over optical fibers... speed: tera- to peta-scale operations/ second, energy consumption: femtojoules to attojoules/ operation, latency: pico- to nanoseconds... remote access to optical processor without digital conversion drastically reduces computing latency... performs machine learning computations within optical fiber... proof-of-concept combining computation with data transfer over 20 km fiber access line achieved good classification accuracy for image recognition tasks"

Gold nanocluster-based MOFs with modifiable electronic properties also exhibit semiconductor-like behavior and adjustable conductivity

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-gold-nanoclusters-materials-nanoelectronics.html "gold nanoclusters (act like individual atoms) assembled into 3D framework using metal ions, forming cluster-based MOFs... assembly allows for precise control/ fine-tuning material's properties... reducing distance between gold nanoclusters improved material's electrical conductivity as much as 31X... metal ions' electron structure affects material's overall electrical conductivity... 4 cluster-based MOF materials created... poised to revolutionize nanoelectronics"

On-demand reversible electronic switching of quantum materials' topological state achieved in a single crystal, for energy-efficient electronics

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-demand-electronic-topology-crystal.html "topological currents protected by symmetry have significantly less dissipation (energy waste)... addition or subtraction of electrical charge drives reversible topological transition: initial OFF non-conductor insulator: modifying antimony/ tellurium ratio changes electron count/ lattice arrangement, disrupting symmetry, opening energy gap... switching ON metal conductor: depositing thin potassium layer donates electrons, restoring symmetry... restoring OFF: heating removes potassium, returns to initial insulating state"

Silver-based atomic switch forms stable electrical connections between individual molecules/ metal electrodes for scalable molecular electronics

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108479 "multiple tantalum oxide molecular junctions can be created automatically/ simultaneously... approx. 0.3 V individual molecular circuits, without use of silicon... stable electrical contacts (molecular junctions) between functional molecules (rectifiers, switches, memory units)/ metal electrodes... atomic switch chemically forms/ breaks conductive path rather than moving physical parts, ON = positive voltage, silver atoms move... highly energy-efficient molecular switches/ sensors leveraging molecules' quantum properties"

Heat-dissipating magnesium oxide/ epoxy resin composite achieves 17.19 W/m·K thermal conductivity, up to 2.6X higher than existing methods

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-strong-material-egg-whites-cool.html "protein foaming method used to create structure in which low cost particles densely/ uniformly interconnected, similar to how egg-white proteins expand at high temperatures... enables creation of composite material with continuous thermal pathways, preventing heat transfer from being interrupted... inherently economic/ scalable injection molding fabrication... high performance, eco-friendly, lightweight, strong, low cost... electronics/ battery thermal management" 

EV motor: Record 1,000 hp/ wheel peak power-density; in-wheel powertrain cuts up to 1,102 pounds from EVs by removing rear brakes/ driveshafts

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/ev-motor-packs-1000-hp-per-wheel "28-pounds, 59 kW/ kg power density, paired with highly efficient 33-pound dual inverter, EV conversions still save about 441 pounds... advanced regenerative braking captures/ reuses energy, potentially eliminating the need for rear disc brakes and driveshafts... light enough to be fitted inside the wheel while remaining mass-neutral, meaning it does not add net weight to the vehicle... performance, efficiency, weight reduction, scalable for various high-performance EVs"

Ultrafast switching in Mn₃Sn antiferromagnets for non-volatile magnetic memory and logic spintronic devices

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1107901 "electrically driven switching without substantial heating and under a weak current... switching completing within few to several tens of ps... fastest was 140 ps, constrained by the short current pulses that could be generated by the current device setup, not by the material itself... faster computing, communications, and advanced electronics,,, future: switch even faster under optimized conditions, including creating even shorter current pulses"

AlN-based high electron mobility transistor improves high-power wireless electronics/ addresses gallium semiconductor supply chain vulnerabilities

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-aluminum-nitride-transistor-advances-gen.html "ultra-thin gallium nitride layer on bulk single-crystal aluminum nitride (AlN) substrate... AlN has ultrawide bandgap allowing it to withstand higher temperatures/ voltages, with low defect densities/ high thermal conductivity... lower channel temperature enables operation at even higher power, extending communication/ radar range... about 1 million-fold fewer crystalline defects significantly improves performance, several orders magnitude less gallium... RF power amplifiers for: 5G/ 6G, radar"

Control of nanostructures and magnetic domain structures of iron-based soft amorphous ribbons for high-frequency power electronics

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108300 "energy-efficient: achieves >50% reduction in core loss compared to initial amorphous material... particularly high performance in high-frequency range (up to several tens of kHz) where materials usually suffer from increased energy loss... efficiency of soft magnetic materials in high-frequency transformers/ inductors in: EV drive power supply circuits, AI-focused data centers... future: prototype transformers: test material's integration into actual power conversion circuits"

Chloride molten salt electrolysis is a new efficient and high-purity process for neodymium magnet fabrication

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-energy-efficient-rare-earth-element.html "uses electricity to split neodymium chloride molecules, drawing pure neodymium to cathode... eliminates 2 major, energy-intensive steps... reduces production costs from >14 to approximately $5/ kg... no harmful gas byproducts... anode design prevents degradation, allowing continuous use... complete mine-to-magnet U.S.-based manufacturing chain... future: making scalable, testing new deposition approaches to stabilize anode... method can be extended to other critical rare-earth metals"

Guidance mechanism dramatically improves performance of neural network architectures previously considered untrainable or ineffective

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-previously-untrainable-neural-networks-effectively.html "network encouraged to match internal representations of guide network during brief training... transfers structural knowledge, aligning way 2 networks organize information within each layer, even when guide network untrained, as already encode valuable architectural biases steering other networks toward effective learning... even few alignment steps before full training sufficient to confer lasting benefits... stabilizes training, eliminates failure modes, prevents overfitting... success less dependent on task-specific data" Related: For visual AI systems, selecting the right blueprint may accelerate learning https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108079 Taming chaos in neural networks: A biologically plausible way https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-chaos-neural-networks-biologically-plausible.html

THz-wave emitter device with record-breaking longevity opens new frontiers in next-generation communications/ computing technologies

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-terahertz-device-quantum-horizons.html "prototype device fabricated >11 years ago still works as well/ stable as on day 1... longevity (materials' intrinsic resilience/ engineered to resist degradation from air or moisture)/ stability... built from high-temperature superconductor/ consists of atomically thin layers... contains Josephson junctions, enabling phase-locked coherent generation/ transmission... small (elements less than human hair width), 1 V low-power... emits waves tunable from 100 GHz to 1 THz... operates as superconductor near 90°K"

Major limitation in acoustic levitation, the tendency of multiple levitated particles to collapse into a clump in mid-air (acoustic collapse), is solved

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108105 "sound scattered off them creates attractive forces, causing them to snap together into single clump...  introducing/ tuning electric charge to particles leverages electrostatic repulsion to keep particles separated, achieving stable configurations ranging from completely separated systems to fully collapsed ones, and hybrids in between, including non-reciprocal: particle arrangements that spontaneously rotate/ pairs of particles that chase each other... stable mid-air manipulation: material science, micro- robotics/ engineering"

Using 2D dielectric insulators made of lightweight carbon COFs enables AI/ conventional electronic chips to run significantly cooler/ faster

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108208 "low: power consumption/ signal interference (cross talk)... created from carbon and other light elements to form covalently bonded, highly porous crystalline sheetlike films... ultralow dielectric constant/ ultrahigh electrical breakdown strength (needed for high-voltage), good thermal stability... synthetic interfacial polymerization stitches molecular building blocks to form strong crystalline layered sheets.... ultimate goal is to greatly lower the power consumption of the booming AI data center growth"

Nanoscale optical device stabilizes quantum communication by entangling spins of photons and electrons at room temperature

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-scientists-advance-quantum-technology.html "silicon nanopatterned substrate creates corkscrew-like spinning photons imparting spin on electrons in/ nanopatterning thin-film molybdenum diselenide, above... replaces complex, costly super-cooling systems, for smaller, simpler, cheaper, low-energy quantum components for use in cryptography, advanced sensing, high-performance computing, AI... future: integrate into larger quantum networks (requiring new light sources, detectors), embed into smart phones enabling smart phone quantum computing"

Neural array imaging, 13X thinner, overcomes the traditional trade-offs among aperture, field-of-view, bandwidth, and image quality in optics

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1107673 "replaces large-aperture metalens with array of multiple small-aperture metalenses, preventing chromatic/ off-axis aberrations from severely escalating with increases in aperture size or FOV... reduced wavefront error from >90 to approximately 1 wavelength, reducing aberration, ensuring Modulation Transfer Function curve stays above noise-limited threshold, enhancing recoverability/ image quality... Multi-scale Feature-domain Wiener Deconvolution Deep Fusion Network: interpretable/ detail-preserving image reconstruction"

Five-fold increase in supercapacitor electrodes' carbon nanowall capacitance, by treating them with optimal dose of high-energy argon ions

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-argon-ion-treatment-carbon-nanowall.html "carbon nanowalls: vertically stacked 10-15 graphene sheets have large specific surface area for high capacitance... ion implantation allows for material's bulk treatment due to high penetrating capacity... also creates nanosized cavities in material's structure, which are then passivated in air by functional groups... 10¹⁴ ions/ cm2 optimal dose since aligns cavity size to that of electrolyte molecules enabling them to embed, providing nanostructuring further increases capacitance... works better than embedding heteroatoms" Related: Mini-vortices in nanopores accelerate ion transport for faster supercapacitor charging https://phys.org/news/2025-12-mini-vortices-nanopores-ion-faster.html

High pressure increases THz 13X in 2D semiconductor gallium telluride, and enables fine tuning by manipulating crystal and electronic structure

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-high-pressure-terahertz-emission-2d.html "using diamond anvil cell... >150 fs phase shift under high pressure, indicating transient current process precedes optical rectification... pressure alters intrinsic resonant frequency/ initial charge distribution, which determines amplitude, frequency, THz phase... hydrostatic pressure could be used to probe, informing improved new THz-active materials' bandwidth, efficiency, and tunability, including those modified through chemical-pressure-based doping... topological materials, spintronics, heterostructures"