Science

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NbSe2, a true 2-D superconductor

Very few 2D superconductors exist in nature, and single-layer NbSe2 is the first among them that remains a superconductor in its isolated, 2D form without the need of a special substrate. Furthermore, CDW order - spatial modulation of both the electron density and the atomic lattice (see figure below) - has been revealed to be a genuine 2D electronic phenomenon in NbSe2.

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Atomically resolved STM image of the NbSe2 surface showing CDW modulation.

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Novel 'crumpling' of hybrid nanostructures increases SERS sensitivity

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Illustration of SERS enhancement from a crumpled graphene-Au nanoparticles hybrid structure. Raman spectrum is enhanced the most when the target molecule is situated at the center of Au nanoparticles in valley of crumpled graphene as depicted in inset.

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Graphene could take night-vision technology beyond 'Predator'

Movies such as 1987's "Predator," in which an alien who sees in the infrared hunts down Arnold Schwarzenegger and his team, introduced a generation of sci-fi fans to thermal imaging. Since then, heat-sensing devices have found many real-word applications but have remained relatively expensive and rigid. But a new development featuring graphene,could lead to a flexible, transparent and low-cost infrared vision system.

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A thermal sensor made out of graphene could lead to better night vision technology.

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IMF Staff Concludes Review Mission to Ghana

A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Joël Toujas-Bernaté, visited Accra from October 21–November 5, 2015, to conduct discussions on the second review of Ghana’s financial and economic program supported by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF). The discussions focused on the implementation of the program, the medium-term outlook and policies needed to restore debt sustainability, macroeconomic stability, and a return to high growth and job creation while protecting the poor.

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IMF Staff Completes 2015 Article IV Consultation and Third Review of the Precautionary and Liquidity Line Mission to Morocco

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team, led by Nicolas Blancher, visited Morocco from October 21 to November 4, 2015 to conduct discussions with the Moroccan authorities on the 2015 Article IV consultation, as well as on the third review of economic performance under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) arrangement approved in July 2014. The discussions focused on increasing the resilience and the potential of the Moroccan economy.

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Excitement Grows as NASA Carbon Sleuth Begins Year Two

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Global average carbon dioxide concentrations as seen by NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, June 1-15, 2015. OCO-2 measures carbon dioxide from the top of Earth's atmosphere to its surface. Higher carbon dioxide concentrations are in red, with lower concentrations in yellows and greens.

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Monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell achieves record efficiency

Organic-inorganic perovskite materials are one of the biggest surprises in solar cell research. In just six years, the efficiency of perovskite solar cells has increased five-fold; moreover, perovskite solar cells can be manufactured from solution and be cost-effectively printed on large areas in the future.

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A cross-section through the tandem cell is shown by this SEM-image.

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3-D laser printing of whispering-gallery-mode microcavities

Whispering-Gallery-Mode (WGM) microcavities that confine light in a small volume with high quality (Q) factors and enhance interaction of light with matters inside the cavity have shown promising applications as an element for a variety of devices such as micro-lasers, micro-sensors, micro-filters, and thus are becoming the basic building blocks of integrated photonic systems. This leads to tremendous progress in the development of micro-scale high-Q microcavity processing technologies.

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These are microscope images of WGM microcavities fabricated by femtosecond laser 3-D processing.

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Australian scientists design a full-scale architecture for a quantum computer in silicon

Physicists at UNSW Australia and the University of Melbourne have designed a scalable 3-D silicon chip architecture based on single atom quantum bits, providing a blueprint to build operational quantum computers.

Scientists and engineers from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T), headquartered at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), are leading the world in the race to develop a scalable quantum computer in silicon - a material well-understood and favoured by the trillion-dollar computing and microelectronics industry.

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Physicists mimic quantum entanglement with laser pointer to double data speeds

In a classic eureka moment, a team of physicists led by The City College of New York and including Herriot-Watt University and Corning Incorporated is showing how beams from ordinary laser pointers mimic quantum entanglement with the potential of doubling the data speed of laser communication.

Quantum entanglement is a phrase more likely to be heard on popular sci-fi television shows such as "Fringe" and "Doctor Who." Described by Albert Einstein as "spooky action at a distance," when two quantum things are entangled, if one is 'touched' the other will 'feel it,' even if separated by a great distance.

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