A research team has realized one of the long-standing theoretical predictions in nonlinear optical metamaterials: creation of a nonlinear material that has opposite refractive indices at the fundamental and harmonic frequencies of light. Such a material, which doesn’t exist naturally, had been predicted for nearly a decade. Observation of “backward phase matching” – a phenomenon…
Theory Turns to Reality for Nonlinear Optical Metamaterials
A research team has realized one of the long-standing theoretical predictions in nonlinear optical metamaterials: creation of a nonlinear material that has opposite refractive indices at the fundamental and harmonic frequencies of light. Such a material, which doesn’t exist naturally, had been predicted for nearly a decade. Observation of ‘backward phase matching’ — a phenomenon…
Broad Color Palette of Electrochromic Polymers for Sunglasses, Windows
Artists, print designers and interior decorators have long had access to a broad palette of paint and ink colors for their work. Now, researchers have created a broad color palette of electrochromic polymers, materials that can be used for sunglasses, window tinting and other applications that rely on electrical current to produce color changes. By…
Smaller Lidars Could Allow UAVs to Conduct Underwater Scans
Bathymetric lidars – devices that employ powerful lasers to scan beneath the water’s surface – are used today primarily to map coastal waters. At nearly 600 pounds, the systems are large and heavy, and they require costly, piloted aircraft to carry them. A team at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has designed a new…
Making a Mental Match: Pairing a Mechanical Device with Stroke Patients
The repetitive facilitation exercise (RFE) is one of the most common rehabilitation tactics for stroke patients attempting to regain wrist movement. Stroke hemiparesis individuals are not able to move that part of their body because they cannot create a strong enough neural signal that travels from the brain to the wrist. With RFE, however, patients…
Your Next Angry Birds Opponent Could Be a Robot
Georgia Tech team pairs humanoid with popular game to help kids with rehabilitation With the help of a smart tablet and Angry Birds, children can now do something typically reserved for engineers and computer scientists: program a robot to learn new skills. The Georgia Institute of Technology project is designed to serve…
Researchers Develop ‘Encore’ to Monitor Web Access
Georgia Tech researchers have created a tool to monitor the accessibility of Web pages around the world that can be installed by adding a single line of code to a web page. The tool, Encore, runs when a user visits a website where the code is installed and then discreetly collects data from potentially censored…
Engineered bacteria produce biofuel alternative for high-energy rocket fuel
By inserting enzymes from trees into the bacterium, first author and Georgia Tech graduate student Stephen Sarria, working under the guidance of assistant professor Pamela Peralta-Yahya, boosted pinene production six-fold over earlier bioengineering efforts. Though a more dramatic improvement will be needed before pinene dimers can compete with petroleum-based JP-10, the scientists believe they have…
Georgia Tech Project Ensures ‘What You See Is What You Send’
Imagine a user who intends to send $2 to a friend through PayPal. Embedded malware in the user’s laptop, however, converts the $2 transaction into a $2,000 transfer to the account of the malware author instead. Researchers at Georgia Tech have created a prototype software, Gyrus, that takes extra steps to prevent malware from sending…
Single Chip Device to Provide Real-time 3D Images from Inside the Body
Researchers have developed the technology for a catheter-based device that would provide forward-looking, real-time, three-dimensional imaging from inside the heart, coronary arteries and peripheral blood vessels. With its volumetric imaging, the new device could better guide surgeons working in the heart, and potentially allow more of patients’ clogged arteries to be cleared without major surgery.…
Your Signature in Lights
Device for capturing signatures uses tiny LEDs created with piezo-phototronic effect. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology want to put your signature up in lights – tiny lights, that is. Using thousands of nanometer-scale wires, the researchers have developed a sensor device that converts mechanical pressure – from a signature or a fingerprint –…
Photos of the Day: A Mini Mona Lisa
The “Mini Lisa” demonstrates a technique that could potentially be used to achieve nanomanufacturing of devices because the team was able to vary the surface concentration of molecules on such short-length scales. Read: Making a Mini Mona Lisa More Narrow than a Human Hair By varying only the heat at each location, Ph.D. Candidate Keith…
Making a Mini Mona Lisa More Narrow than a Human Hair
Nanotechnique creates image 30 microns in width. The world’s most famous painting has now been created on the world’s smallest canvas. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have “painted” the Mona Lisa on a substrate surface approximately 30 microns in width – or one-third the width of a human hair. The team’s creation, the…
Stutter Jumping
Study of 20,000 jumps shows how a hopping robot could conserve its energy. A new study shows that jumping can be much more complicated than it might seem. In research that could extend the range of future rescue and exploration robots, scientists have found that hopping robots could dramatically reduce the amount of energy they…
Photo of the Day: Robotic Assistance
After showing adults (ages 65 to 93 years) a video of a robot’s capabilities, researchers interviewed them about their willingness for assistance with 48 common household tasks. Participants generally preferred robotic help over human help for chores such as cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry and taking out the trash. Robots have the potential to help…