In the race to produce a quantum computer, a number of projects are seeking a way to create quantum bits — or qubits — that are stable, meaning they are not much affected by changes in their environment. This normally needs highly nonlinear non-dissipative elements capable of functioning at very low temperatures. In pursuit of…
New 3D Printing and Electroplating Method Produces High-Quality Metal Electrodes for Molecular Beam-Splitters
Many measurement techniques, such as spectroscopy, benefit from the ability to split a single beam of light into two in order to measure changes in one of them. The crucial device that separates the beam is the beam-splitter. These have been mostly limited to light beams, where one uses simply a partially reflective glass. EPFL…
Quasars Shed Light on Speed of Universe Expansion
The H0LiCOW collaboration, a cosmology project led by EPFL and Max Planck Institute and regrouping several research organizations in the world has made a new measurement of the Hubble constant, which indicates how fast the universe is expanding. The new measurement challenges some of the most recent ones, potentially pointing towards new physics beyond the…
Shigella Bacterium Exploits a Physical Force Called ‘Endocytosis’ in the Membrane of Cells
The bacteria that cause the shigella intestinal disease use a toxin that exploits a physical force in the membrane of cells. Though difficult to block, it is possible to fight with nanoparticles exploiting the same force. An enormous number of diseases are a result of bacterial and virus infections. These pathogens gain entry into cells of the…
3D Nanoprinting to Turbocharge Microscopes
EPFL researchers have printed nanometric-scale sensors capable of improving the performance of atomic force microscopes. Tiny sensors made through nanoscale 3-D printing may be the basis for the next generation of atomic force microscopes. These nanosensors can enhance the microscopes’ sensitivity and detection speed by miniaturizing their detection component up to 100 times. The sensors…
New Technique Opens up Advanced Solar Cells
In a photovoltaic cell, light generates opposite charges in the active layer. The charges must then be separated as quickly as possible to keep them from recombining. Positive charges are driven by a built-in electric field to one metallic contact, while negative charges migrate in the opposite direction to another electrode. Using a unique ultra-fast…
Nano-Watermark Sorts Fakes from Genuines
Nanoga, an EPFL-based startup, has developed a technique to put a nanoscopic watermark onto glass or ceramic. Products with this watermark, which is invisible to the naked eye and only shows up under ultraviolet light, are impossible to counterfeit. With Nanoga’s new way of combatting counterfeits, each product can be made unique without changing its…
Lasers Carve Path to Tissue Engineering
Future medicine is bound to include extensive tissue-engineering technologies such as organs-on-chips and organoids – miniature organs grown from stem cells. But all this is predicated on a simple yet challenging task: controlling cellular behavior in three dimensions. So far, most cell culture approaches are limited to two-dimensional environments (e.g. a Petri dish or a…
New Material Can Clear Up Nuclear Waste Gases
An international team of scientists at EPFL and the US have discovered a material that can clear out radioactive waste from nuclear plants more efficiently, cheaply, and safely than current methods. Nuclear energy is one of the cheapest alternatives to carbon-based fossil fuels. But nuclear-fuel reprocessing plants generate waste gas that is currently too expensive…