A new method to make a low-cost, high-quality lens quickly using a 3D printer has promising potential to create optical imaging lenses, customized contact lenses for correcting distorted vision, or to even turn iPhones into microscopes for disease diagnosis. Developed by Northwestern Engineering researchers after two years of research, the customized optical component, which is…
Controlling Quantum Interactions in a Single Material
The search and manipulation of novel properties emerging from the quantum nature of matter could lead to next-generation electronics and quantum computers. But finding or designing materials that can host such quantum interactions is a difficult task. “Harmonizing multiple quantum mechanical properties, which often do not coexist together, and trying to do it by design…
Using Crumpled Graphene Balls to Make Better Batteries
Lithium metal-based batteries have the potential to turn the battery industry upside down. With the theoretically ultra-high capacity of lithium metal used by itself, this new type of battery could power everything from personal devices to cars. “In current batteries, lithium is usually atomically distributed in another material such as graphite or silicon in the…
World’s Smallest Wearable Device Measures UV Exposure
A Northwestern University professor, working in conjunction with the global beauty company L’Oréal, has developed the smallest wearable device in the world. The wafer-thin, feather-light sensor can fit on a fingernail and precisely measures a person’s exposure to UV light from the sun. The device, as light as a raindrop and smaller in circumference than…
New Method for 3-D Printing Extraterrestrial Materials
When humans begin to colonize the moon and Mars, they will need to be able to make everything from small tools to large buildings using the limited surrounding resources. Northwestern University’s Ramille Shah and her Tissue Engineering and Additive Manufacturing (TEAM) Laboratory have demonstrated the ability to 3D-print structures with simulants of Martian and lunar…
Teaching a Computer to Make Decisions Using Parables
New Terahertz Source Could Strengthen Sensing Applications
Current terahertz sources are large, multi-component systems that sometimes require complex vacuum systems, external pump lasers, and even cryogenic cooling. The unwieldy devices are heavy, expensive, and hard to transport, operate, and maintain. Now Northwestern University’s Manijeh Razeghi has developed a new type of security detection device that bypasses these issues. With the ability to…
Superlattice Design Realizes Elusive Multiferroic Properties
From the spinning disc of a computer’s hard drive to the varying current in a transformer, many technological devices work by merging electricity and magnetism. But the search to find a single material that combines both electric polarizations and magnetizations remains challenging. This elusive class of materials is called multiferroics, which combine two or more…
How to Keep Surfaces Dry Underwater
Imagine staying dry underwater for months. Now Northwestern University engineers have examined a wide variety of surfaces that can do just that – and, better yet, they know why. The research team is the first to identify the ideal “roughness” needed in the texture of a surface to keep it dry for a long period…
Clay Sheets Stack to Form Proton Conductors
Northwestern Engineering professor Jiaxing Huang has developed a cheaper, more stable proton-conducting system. To find the key ingredient, he had to look no further than his own backyard. “We used a clay that you can buy at a gardening store,” said Huang, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of…
Study confirms 3D printed parts help reduce aircraft weight by 7 percent
A new case study by a team from Northwestern University in the US has confirmed that 3D printed metal parts will help reduce weight of an aircraft by up to 7%, thereby allowing airlines to save fuel and decrease carbon emissions. Backed by the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, the case study used…
Silver-Glass Sandwich Structure Acts as Inexpensive Color Filter
The engineering world just became even more colorful. Northwestern University researchers have created a new technique that can transform silver into any color of the rainbow. Their simple method is a fast, low-cost alternative to color filters currently used in electronic displays and monitors. “Our technique doesn’t require expensive nanofabrication techniques or a lot of…
Single Laser Stops Molecular Tumbling Motion Instantly
Quantum control of molecules could lead to extremely fast computers In the quantum world, making the simple atom behave is one thing, but making the more complex molecule behave is another story. Now Northwestern University scientists have figured out an elegant way to stop a molecule from tumbling so that its potential for new applications…