Pub Date : 2024-09-06DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10669256
Edd Gent
A team of engineers at Bilkent University, in Ankara, Türkiye, has built a nanoscale optical element not on top of a silicon wafer, but rather in a layer below the surface. To achieve this, they used a special type of laser known as a Bessel beam, whose light can pass through the surface of a wafer and interact with the silicon below. Because the Bessel beam's light doesn't diffract, it's now possible to create two-dimensional structures inside the silicon as small as 100 nanometers.
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Pub Date : 2024-08-05DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10623187
Corey S. Powell
ON 29 OCTOBER 2020, astronomer Przemek Mróz from the University of Warsaw and an international group of collaborators reported a peculiar flicker of light originating from halfway across our galaxy. The signal, designated OGLE-2016-BLG-1928, was extremely subtle. It caused a single star to brighten and dim by about 20 percent over a 6-hour period, just once, never repeated. But the implication of that little flicker was huge: It was the first credible sighting of an Earth-size “rogue planet,” a world untethered to any star, floating freely between the stars.
{"title":"The Hunt for Rogue Planets: The Galaxy May Hold a Trillion Wandering, Sunless Worlds. So How Do We Find Them?","authors":"Corey S. Powell","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10623187","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10623187","url":null,"abstract":"ON 29 OCTOBER 2020, astronomer Przemek Mróz from the University of Warsaw and an international group of collaborators reported a peculiar flicker of light originating from halfway across our galaxy. The signal, designated OGLE-2016-BLG-1928, was extremely subtle. It caused a single star to brighten and dim by about 20 percent over a 6-hour period, just once, never repeated. But the implication of that little flicker was huge: It was the first credible sighting of an Earth-size “rogue planet,” a world untethered to any star, floating freely between the stars.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"61 8","pages":"24-35"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141965538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-02DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622077
Alfred Poor
Today's typical high-voltage power line, considering its essential role in the electrified world, is surprisingly dull. It's typically just a length of conductor (like aluminum) through which electrons flow from power source to end users. However, researchers have been testing clamp-on sensors to the lines, called power Neurons, that can report fundamentals like operating temperature and current back to grid operators. According to one study by Great River Energy in Minnesota, a pilot deployment of Neurons enabled the utility company to increase its electricity throughput by more than 40 percent. The Neuron's Norwegian creator, Oslo's Heimdall Power, says its sensors are an inexpensive and simple byway to tomorrow's smart grid-coming in at just 2 to 5 percent of the cost of replacing an aging line.
{"title":"Grid “Neurons” Boost Power-Line Performance","authors":"Alfred Poor","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622077","url":null,"abstract":"Today's typical high-voltage power line, considering its essential role in the electrified world, is surprisingly dull. It's typically just a length of conductor (like aluminum) through which electrons flow from power source to end users. However, researchers have been testing clamp-on sensors to the lines, called power Neurons, that can report fundamentals like operating temperature and current back to grid operators. According to one study by Great River Energy in Minnesota, a pilot deployment of Neurons enabled the utility company to increase its electricity throughput by more than 40 percent. The Neuron's Norwegian creator, Oslo's Heimdall Power, says its sensors are an inexpensive and simple byway to tomorrow's smart grid-coming in at just 2 to 5 percent of the cost of replacing an aging line.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"61 8","pages":"16-17"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10622077","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141965747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-02DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622064
Stephen Cass
You have a closed box. There may be a live cat inside, but you won't know until you open the box. For most people, this situation is a theoretical conundrum that probes the foundations of quantum mechanics. For me, however, it's a pressing practical problem, not least because physics completely skates over the vital issue of how annoyed the cat will be when the box is opened. But fortunately, engineering comes to the rescue, in the form of a new US $50 maker-friendly pulsed coherent radar sensor from SparkFun.
{"title":"A Radar Cat Detector > When You Really Need to Know What's Inside the Box","authors":"Stephen Cass","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622064","url":null,"abstract":"You have a closed box. There may be a live cat inside, but you won't know until you open the box. For most people, this situation is a theoretical conundrum that probes the foundations of quantum mechanics. For me, however, it's a pressing practical problem, not least because physics completely skates over the vital issue of how annoyed the cat will be when the box is opened. But fortunately, engineering comes to the rescue, in the form of a new US $50 maker-friendly pulsed coherent radar sensor from SparkFun.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"61 8","pages":"18-20"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141965746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-02DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622061
Vandana Rallabandi;Burak Ozpineci;Praveen Kumar
THE DILEMMA IS EASY TO DESCRIBE. Global efforts to combat climate change hinge on pivoting sharply away from fossil fuels. To do that will require electrifying transportation, primarily by shifting from vehicles with combustion engines to ones with electric drive trains. Such a massive shift will inevitably mean far greater use of electric traction motors, nearly all of which rely on magnets that contain rare earth elements, which cause substantial environmental degradation when their ores are extracted and then processed into industrially useful forms. And for automakers outside of China, there is an additional deterrent: Roughly 90 percent of processed rare earth elements now come from China, so for these companies, increasing dependence on rare earths means growing vulnerability in critical supply chains.
{"title":"How EVs Can Escape the Rare Earth Trap: Promising Experimental Motors are Using Exotic Materials and Ingenious Configurations","authors":"Vandana Rallabandi;Burak Ozpineci;Praveen Kumar","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622061","url":null,"abstract":"THE DILEMMA IS EASY TO DESCRIBE. Global efforts to combat climate change hinge on pivoting sharply away from fossil fuels. To do that will require electrifying transportation, primarily by shifting from vehicles with combustion engines to ones with electric drive trains. Such a massive shift will inevitably mean far greater use of electric traction motors, nearly all of which rely on magnets that contain rare earth elements, which cause substantial environmental degradation when their ores are extracted and then processed into industrially useful forms. And for automakers outside of China, there is an additional deterrent: Roughly 90 percent of processed rare earth elements now come from China, so for these companies, increasing dependence on rare earths means growing vulnerability in critical supply chains.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"61 8","pages":"36-41"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141965750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-02DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622063
Edd Gent
The Large Hadron Collider has transformed our understanding of physics since it began operating in 2008, enabling researchers to investigate the fundamental building blocks of the universe. Some 100 meters below the border between France and Switzerland, particles accelerate along the LHC's 27-kilometer circumference, nearly reaching the speed of light before smashing together.
{"title":"Irene Degl'Innocenti: This Engineer Keeps CERN's Particle Accelerators on Track","authors":"Edd Gent","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10622063","url":null,"abstract":"The Large Hadron Collider has transformed our understanding of physics since it began operating in 2008, enabling researchers to investigate the fundamental building blocks of the universe. Some 100 meters below the border between France and Switzerland, particles accelerate along the LHC's 27-kilometer circumference, nearly reaching the speed of light before smashing together.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"61 8","pages":"21-22"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10622063","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141965748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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