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Chasing new solar cell efficiency

May 10th 2012 17:52

The theoretical limit of solar cell efficiency is 33.5%, i.e the amount of energy from the Sun can be converted to the electricity in solar cell. Professor Eli Yablonovitch and his graduate student Owen Miller from the University of California, Berkeley have designed and built a new type of solar cell with Solar cell efficiency 28.6%. They plan to increase solar cell efficiency to 30% next year.

Solar Energy

The previous solar cell efficiency is around 20%, which use crystalline silicon photo-voltaic cells. The new prototype solar cell is made of gallium arsenide and used new "photon management" technique, not only manage photon incident but also photon emission.

Video: Solar Energy, Concentrated Photovoltaics, and JDSU
An introduction to current solar energy technologies and the key role JDSU CPV solutions play in the growing energy market.

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Posted By: Jiansen Lu - Category: No Category

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Single molecules in a quantum interference movie

May 2nd 2012 03:52

You may know the famous Young's experiment, also called the double-slit experiment in quantum mechanics textbook. Electrons behave like a wave to produce interference fringes. Now researchers used heavy molecules to create an interference pattern after passing through two slits. It is very interesting to see the threshold when particles stop behaving like waves and begin to obey the classical laws of physics.

Molecule quantum interference

Using 8-atom phthalocyanine molecules (C32H18N8) and 114-atom phthalocyanine derivatives (C48H26F24N8O8), researchers at institutes in Austria, Israel, Switzerland and Germany have watched the real time interference patterns created by these heavy molecules.

Video: Single molecules in a quantum interference movie
This video shows the build-up of a quantum matter-wave interference pattern from single phthalocyanine molecules. See also our original publication in Nature Nanotechnology (DOI:10.1038/nnano.2012.34)

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To measure earthquakes using GPS

April 24th 2012 05:15

By building a network of GPS stations to decide which lands are shifted, scientists are able to predict and measure earthquakes by checking the movements of these GPS stations related to each other.

GPS technology

Using GPS stations, the researchers at the University of California are able to determine the earthquake magnitudes in less than 2 minutes for previous Tokachi-oki earthquake.

Another GPS measurement technique in earthquake is developed by Professor Kosuke Heki at Hokkaido University in Japan. Prof. Heki measured Total Electron Content (TEC) in the upper atmosphere using GPS
signal. He discovered that Total Electron Content (TEC) was disrupted in the 40 or so minutes before the earthquake.

Video: GPS signals can predict earthquakes??
Professor Kosuke Heki of Hokkaido University in Japan believes he has found a way to predict earthquakes.

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Using your palms instead of a debit card for ATM

April 15th 2012 17:58

You may worry about that someone may steal your credit card or bank card. Now it is possible that you only need your palms plus a four-digit PIN and your birth date to take cash from automated teller machine (ATM), not anymore debit cards.

Palm reading technology

The ATM machines at Ogaki Kyoristu Bank in Japan will be able to read your palms instead of bank cards. This is especially good for those Japanese who lost all their IDs in earthquakes. The palm scanners are developed by Fujitsu company. Fujitsu develops a highly reliable biometric authentication system based on palm vein pattern recognition technology. The technology can be applied to physical access control, user authentication to PCs or server systems, government and commercial identity management systems, OEM terminal devices (POS, ATMs or information kiosks) and other industry specific applications.

Video: Palm-Activated ATM to Launch in Japan
Japan is consistently on the cutting edge of technology. One of their newest inventions is a palm activated ATM set to debut in few months..

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Holographic TV will come soon

April 6th 2012 16:15

Probably you like 3D movie and 3D TV, but you do not like wearing 3D glasses. Fine, the new generation of 3D TV - holographic TV will come soon. With holographic TV, you do not need to wear 3D glasses. Images and pictures are projected into the middle of a room as a "cloud". You can view it from every angle.

Holography

A hologram records light scattered from different direction, while our current photography only records light from one direction. Hologram requires two light beams, i.e. we need a reference light beam. To reconstruct the 3D image, you need to shine a light back on the photographic plate to diffract off the interference pattern. When a hologram is cut in many pieces, you still see whole picture in each piece.

Researchers at the MIT are able to build a commercially viable holographic TV with a refresh rate of 15 frames per second, standard television and film are 30 frames per second.

Video: Holographic TV coming in 2012

Holographic TV, the future of 3D TV is coming to store sooner than you think.