Friday 15 April 2016

'Odd couple' monolayer semiconductors align to advance optoelectronics

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Scientists synthesized a stack of atomically thin monolayers of two lattice-mismatched semiconductors and created an atomically thin solar cell.
via Science Daily

Laser source for biosensors: First time organic lasers integrated into a silicon photonic chip

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In the area of nano photonics, scientists for the first time succeeded in integrating a laser with an organic gain medium on a silicon photonic chip. This approach is of enormous potential for low-cost biosensors that might be used for near-patient diagnosis once and without any sterilization expenditure similar to today's strips for measuring blood sugar.
via Science Daily

Extreme universe recreated in the lab

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Conditions in the vast universe can be quite extreme: Violent collisions scar the surfaces of planets. Nuclear reactions in bright stars generate tremendous amounts of energy. Gigantic explosions catapult matter far out into space. But how exactly do processes like these unfold? What do they tell us about the universe? To find out, researchers have performed sophisticated experiments and computer simulations that recreate violent cosmic conditions on a small scale in the lab.
via Science Daily
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Mercury and Crescent Moon Set

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Innermost planet Mercury and a thin crescent Moon are never found far from the Sun in planet Earth's skies. Taken near dusk on April 8, this colorful evening skyscape shows them both setting toward the western horizon just after the Sun. The broad Tagus River and city lights of Lisbon, Portugal run through the foreground under the serene twilight sky. Near perigee or closest approach to Earth, the Moon's bright, slender crescent represents about 3 percent of the lunar disk in sunlight. Of course as seen from the Moon, a nearly full Earth would light up the lunar night, and that strong perigee earthshine makes the rest of the lunar disk visible in this scene. Bright Mercury stays well above the western horizon at sunset for northern skywatchers in the coming days. The fleeting planet reaches maximum elongation, or angular distance from the Sun, on April 18. But Mercury will swing back toward the Sun and actually cross the solar disk on May 9, the first transit of Mercury since November 8, 2006.

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In Theory: Which came first…?

Chemical composition of dust from beyond the solar system analyzed

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A dust detector on the Cassini space probe -- known as the cosmic dust analyzer (CDA) -- has identified several extremely rare and minuscule particles of interstellar dust from outside our solar system, and examined their chemical composition. Surprisingly it turns out that the different dust particles are very similar in composition and have collected the whole element mix of the cosmos. The experts therefore suspect that dust is continually destroyed, reformed and thereby homogenized in the "witch's cauldron" of outer space.
via Science Daily
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