Engineering
Lasers with “unmatched” power have been made smaller, cheaper, and stronger
The future will have a lot of lasers, as we’ve learned from almost all sci-fi movies. They will power our quantum computers and be used to look into microscopic spaces in science experiments. They will also be used in medicine, surgery, and eye health checks. The options are endless. One problem is that the best ones we have so far—titanium-sapphire or Ti:sapphire lasers made with titanium ion-doped sapphire crystals—are too big and pricey for most people to use.
So you can see why it’s so exciting that researchers at Stanford University have made a Ti:sapphire laser that can fit on a chip. It costs three orders of magnitude less and is four orders of magnitude smaller than any Ti:sapphire laser made so far. It can be measured in millimeters instead of tens of meters. It’s even much more efficient than the ones that came before it.
In a statement, Jelena Vuković, the Jensen Huang Professor in Global Leadership, a professor of electrical engineering, and the lead author of the paper introducing the chip-scale Ti:sapphire laser, said, “This is a complete departure from the old model.”
“Soon, any lab could have hundreds of these useful lasers on a single chip instead of one big, pricey laser,” Vučković said. “And a green laser pointer can power it all.”
The big step forward is due to two new ideas: First, the team didn’t work with Ti:sapphire by itself. Instead, they put it on a silicon dioxide insulator. The titanium they did use was only a few hundred nanometers thick. It was then polished and etched with a swirl of very small ridges. A waveguide is the name for the shape, which looks like a firehose that has been coiled up.
A small heater warms up the light that goes through this waveguide. This lets the team, or whoever ends up using this potentially soon-to-be-common technology, tune the laser to any wavelength they need.
The tiny laser could be very useful in many areas of science. Ti:sapphire lasers are very useful in quantum optics, spectroscopy, and neuroscience because they have the highest gain bandwidth. This means that they can send out energy across a wider range of wavelengths than other lasers.
Joshua Yang, a doctoral student in Vučković’s lab and co-first author of the study, said that they’re also very fast. They can send out pulses of light every quadrillionth of a second, which is about fourteen orders of magnitude faster than a regular laser.
That performance does cost something, though. It could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars just to buy the basic kit for a Ti:sapphire laser. You’ll need extra space to put it in because it takes up about the same space as, say, four bowling balls. Plus, you’ll need a lot of other high-powered lasers, each of which costs tens of thousands of dollars, to power it.
So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the technology isn’t very popular right now. That would all change, though, if it were chip-sized, said Yang. “These powerful lasers can be used for a lot of different important tasks when you go from tabletop size to making something that can be made on a chip for such a low price,” he said. “A chip is small.” It’s easy to carry. It works well and doesn’t cost much. It doesn’t have any moving parts. And a lot of them can be made.
What’s the bonus? This kind of scaling down doesn’t just make Ti:sapphire lasers cheaper and smaller; it makes them better.
In terms of math, intensity is equal to power times area. That is why Yang said, “If you keep the same power as the large laser but make the area where it is focused smaller, the intensity goes through the roof.” “The fact that our laser is small helps us make it work better.”
“What’s not to like?” This opens up Ti:sapphire lasers to more people.
The paper has been published in Nature magazine.
Artificial Intelligence
Google DeepMind Shows Off A Robot That Plays Table Tennis At A Fun “Solidly Amateur” Level
Have you ever wanted to play table tennis but didn’t have anyone to play with? We have a big scientific discovery for you! Google DeepMind just showed off a robot that could give you a run for your money in a game. But don’t think you’d be beaten badly—the engineers say their robot plays at a “solidly amateur” level.
From scary faces to robo-snails that work together to Atlas, who is now retired and happy, it seems like we’re always just one step away from another amazing robotics achievement. But people can still do a lot of things that robots haven’t come close to.
In terms of speed and performance in physical tasks, engineers are still trying to make machines that can be like humans. With the creation of their table-tennis-playing robot, a team at DeepMind has taken a step toward that goal.
What the team says in their new preprint, which hasn’t been published yet in a peer-reviewed journal, is that competitive matches are often incredibly dynamic, with complicated movements, quick eye-hand coordination, and high-level strategies that change based on the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. Pure strategy games like chess, which robots are already good at (though with… mixed results), don’t have these features. Games like table tennis do.
People who play games spend years practicing to get better. The DeepMind team wanted to make a robot that could really compete with a human opponent and make the game fun for both of them. They say that their robot is the first to reach these goals.
They came up with a library of “low-level skills” and a “high-level controller” that picks the best skill for each situation. As the team explained in their announcement of their new idea, the skill library has a number of different table tennis techniques, such as forehand and backhand serves. The controller uses descriptions of these skills along with information about how the game is going and its opponent’s skill level to choose the best skill that it can physically do.
The robot began with some information about people. It was then taught through simulations that helped it learn new skills through reinforcement learning. It continued to learn and change by playing against people. Watch the video below to see for yourself what happened.
“It’s really cool to see the robot play against players of all skill levels and styles.” Our goal was for the robot to be at an intermediate level when we started. “It really did that, all of our hard work paid off,” said Barney J. Reed, a professional table tennis coach who helped with the project. “I think the robot was even better than I thought it would be.”
The team held competitions where the robot competed against 29 people whose skills ranged from beginner to advanced+. The matches were played according to normal rules, with one important exception: the robot could not physically serve the ball.
The robot won every game it played against beginners, but it lost every game it played against advanced and advanced+ players. It won 55% of the time against opponents at an intermediate level, which led the team to believe it had reached an intermediate level of human skill.
The important thing is that all of the opponents, no matter how good they were, thought the matches were “fun” and “engaging.” They even had fun taking advantage of the robot’s flaws. The more skilled players thought that this kind of system could be better than a ball thrower as a way to train.
There probably won’t be a robot team in the Olympics any time soon, but it could be used as a training tool. Who knows what will happen in the future?
The preprint has been put on arXiv.
Engineering
New concrete that doesn’t need cement could cut carbon emissions in the construction industry
Even though concrete is a very common building material, it is not at all the most environmentally friendly choice. Because of this, scientists and engineers have been looking for alternatives that are better for the environment. They may have found one: concrete that doesn’t need cement.
Cement production, which is a crucial ingredient in concrete, ranks as the third most significant contributor to human-caused carbon emissions globally. Nevertheless, in recent years, a multitude of alternative techniques for producing more environmentally friendly concrete have surfaced. One proposed method involves utilizing industrial waste and steel slag as CO2-reducing additives in the concrete mixture. Another suggestion is to utilize spent coffee grounds to enhance the strength of the concrete while reducing the amount of sand required.
However, a certain company has devised a technique to produce cement-free concrete suitable for commercial enterprises.
The concrete has the potential to have a net reduction in carbon dioxide and has the ability to prevent approximately 1 metric ton of carbon emissions for every metric ton used. If this statement is accurate, the cement-free binder will serve as a noteworthy substitute for Portland cement. According to BGR, the new concrete also complies with all the industry standards of traditional cement concrete, ensuring that there is no compromise in terms of strength and durability.
While it is still in the early stages, the situation seems encouraging. C-Crete Technologies, a company specializing in materials science and holding the patents for a novel form of concrete, has utilized approximately 140 tons of this new cast-in-place (pourable) concrete in recent construction endeavors.
In September 2023, the company was granted an initial sum of almost $1 million, promptly succeeded by an additional $2 million, by the US Department of Energy to advance the progress of its technology. In addition, it has garnered numerous accolades that are facilitating its growth in operations.
The widespread adoption of cement-free concrete in future construction projects has the potential to significantly alter the environmental impact of the industry. Although C-Crete seems to be one of the few companies currently exploring these new alternatives on a large scale, it is likely that others will also start embracing them in the near future.
Engineering
To get gold back from electronic waste, the Royal Mint of the UK is using a new method
There are hidden mountains of gold in the junkyards, full of old smartphones, computers that don’t work anymore, and broken laptops. A new project in the UK wants to find and use these hidden riches.
The Royal Mint, which makes British coins for the government, has agreed to work with the Canadian clean tech startup Excir to use a “world-first technology” that can safely get gold and other precious metals out of electronic waste (e-waste) and recycle them.
Electronic devices have circuit boards that have small amounts of gold in their connections because gold is a good conductor. These boards also have useful metals like silver, copper, lead, nickel, and aluminum.
In the past, getting the metals was hard, but Excir’s new technology can quickly and safely recover 99 percent of the gold that is trapped in electronic waste.
They prepare the circuit boards using a “unique process,” and then they use a patented chemical formula to quickly and selectively remove the gold. The liquid that is high in gold is then processed to make pure gold that can be melted down and formed into bars. Palladium, silver, and copper could also be recovered with this method.
“Our entrepreneurial spirit has helped the Royal Mint do well for over 1,100 years, and the Excir technology helps us reach our goal of being a leader in sustainable precious metals.” The chemistry is completely new and can get precious metals back from electronics in seconds. “It has a lot of potential for The Royal Mint and the circular economy, as it helps to reuse our planet’s valuable resources and creates new jobs in the UK,” said Sean Millard, Chief Growth Officer at The Royal Mint.
At the moment, about 22% of electronic waste is collected, stored properly, and recycled. But with this kind of new technology, the problem of old electronics could be lessened.
Every year, the world makes about 62 million metric tons of electronic waste, which is more than 1.5 million 40-tonne trucks’ worth. That number will go up by another 32% by 2030 as more people buy electronics. This will make it the fastest-growing source of solid waste in the world.
The World Health Organization says that e-waste is hazardous waste because it contains harmful materials and can leak harmful chemicals if it is not handled properly. For example, old electronics can release lead and mercury into the environment, which can affect the development of the central nervous system while a person is pregnant, as a baby, as a child, or as a teen. Also, e-waste doesn’t break down naturally and builds up in nature.
Aside from being a huge waste, this is also a big problem for the environment. There could be between $57 billion and $62 billion worth of precious metals in dumps and scrap yards.
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