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Nanoscale device emits light as bright as an object 10,000 times its size
Amplifying light a few hundred times with magnifying lenses is easy. Amplifying light by altering the resonant properties of light itself is a much more difficult proposition. However, if recent research by engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM) engineers is anything to go by, the effort is well worth it: They claim to have constructed a nanoscale device that can emit light as powerfully as an object more than 10,000 times its size.
According to the researchers, the light-amplifying properties of the device – known as a nanoresonator – are analogous to that of a guitar string that vibrates in sympathy to local acoustic energy. As such, this tiny optical device receives light energy from its surroundings to produce a light output much larger than expected. This, according to the team, offers many advantages in imaging techniques over normal lenses, as the device's light-harvesting ability is not limited by its physical properties to direction and size.
"Making an object look much 10,000 times larger than its physical size has lots of implications in technologies related to light," says assistant professor Zongfu Yu. "We are developing photodetectors based on this technology, and, for example, it could be helpful for photographers wanting to shoot better quality pictures in weak light conditions."
Just as sound can be made to resonate and amplify when a standing wave is generated in a low-loss reflection chamber, so too can light be amplified by an environment that manipulates the physical properties of light-wave energy. The UWM researchers exploited this fact in their research to engineer an artificial material in which the wavelength of light is much longer than in a vacuum, thereby allowing the light to resonate much more strongly.
The material also condenses light to a size smaller than its wavelength, which means that a large amount of light energy is captured before being reflected onto a much larger surface where it is widely scattered, providing a much-magnified version of the original light energy. In this way, even microscopically-small objects can be made to appear enormous in the amplified light image.
"The device makes an object super-visible by enlarging its optical appearance with this super-strong scattering effect," says PhD student of electrical and computer engineering at UWM, Ming Zhou.
With the nanoresonator’s ability to absorb copious amounts of energy from light, the team also believes that their device presents possibilities in high-efficiency solar cells. Yu believes that the ability to re-emit unwanted energy in the infrared during solar capture would allow the device to be self-cooling, further increasing its efficiency.
"This research opens up a new way to manipulate the flow of light, and could enable new technologies in light sensing and solar energy conversion," says Yu.
The results of the research were recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/nanoscale-light-amplification-wisconsin-madison/38435/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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