DNA is certainly the basis of life. Soon it might also be the basis of your electronic devices. A Northwestern University team has developed a new set of design principles for making photonic crystals akin to the ones that are typically used in computer, television and smartphone displays. By using synthetic DNA to assemble particles […]
Portable Ultra-Broadband Lasers Could Be Key to Next-Gen Sensors
The invisible chemicals around and within us can tell many complicated stories. By sensing them, security agents can uncover explosive threats. By monitoring them in our breath, doctors can diagnose serious illnesses. And by detecting them on distant planets, astronomers may find signs of life. These chemicals sometimes reveal their secrets when probed with mid-infrared […]
New Absorber Will Lead to Better Biosensors
Biological sensors, or biosensors, are like technological canaries in the coalmine. By converting a biological response into an optical or electrical signal, they can alert us to dangers in our external and internal environments. They can sense toxic chemicals and particles in the air and enzymes, molecules, and antibodies in the body that could indicate […]
Researchers Whip Up Terahertz Radiation at Room Temperature
Imagine a technology that could allow us to see through opaque surfaces without exposure to harmful x-rays, that could give us the ability to detect harmful chemicals and bio-agents from a safe distance, and that could enable us to peer so deeply into space that scientists could better understand the formation of the universe. All […]