Electronic devices such as computers generate heat that mostly goes to waste. Physicists at Bielefeld University have found a way to use this energy: They apply the heat to generate magnetic signals known as ‘spin currents’. In future, these signals could replace some of the electrical current in electronic components. In a new study, the…
Nanomembranes Filter Molecules from Air or Water
Free-standing carbon membranes that are a millionth of a millimeter thin: these are a special research field of Professor Dr. Armin Gölzhäuser from Bielefeld University and his research group. The nanomembranes can serve as ultrafine filters and as a protective layer. The Bielefeld physicists have registered several patents for manufacturing such molecular foils. In their…
Bacteria Trapped by Laser Tractor Beam
Until now, if scientists wanted to study blood cells, algae, or bacteria under a microscope, they had to mount these cells on a substrate such as a glass slide. Physicists at Bielefeld and Frankfurt Universities have developed a method that traps biological cells with a laser beam enabling them to study them at very high…