A special formula for epoxy resins has been developed at TU Wien, which can be used for fibre-reinforced composites in aerospace, shipbuilding and automotive manufacturing, or even for underwater renovation. This is achieved merely by irradiating any part of the resin with light. Within seconds the new material can be completely transformed. Initially, the material…
Nanostructures Made of Previously Impossible Material
When you bake a cake, you can combine the ingredients in almost any proportions, and they will still always be able to mix together. This is a little more complicated in materials chemistry. Often, the aim is to change the physical properties of a material by adding a certain proportion of an additional element; however,…
Hand Scanner Measures Bitumen Quality
TU Wien presents several technological innovations at the Hannover Messe: With a simple hand scanner, the quality of the bitumen, which holds the asphalt together, can be measured directly on-site. Asphalt does not last forever. At some point, it ages and starts to crumble. This has to do with the bitumen, the sticky binding agent,…
New Methods for Realistic Surface Rendering
Overturning cars, flying missiles, and airplanes speeding across the screen – on modern computers, 3D objects can be calculated in a flash. However, many surfaces still look unnatural. Whether it is skin, stone or wax – on the computer screen, all materials look alike, as if the objects had all been cut out of the…
Photo of the Day: Huge 3D Displays Without 3D Glasses
Public screenings have become an important part of major sports events. In the future, we will be able to enjoy them in 3D, thanks to a new invention from Austrian scientists. A sophisticated laser system sends laser beams into different directions. Therefore, different pictures are visible from different angles. The angular resolution is so fine…
Huge 3D Displays without 3D Glasses
Public screenings have become an important part of major sports events. In the future, we will be able to enjoy them in 3D, thanks to a new invention from Austrian scientists. A sophisticated laser system sends laser beams into different directions. Therefore, different pictures are visible from different angles. The angular resolution is so fine…
‘Cavity Protection Effect’ Helps to Conserve Quantum Information
Coupling atomic spins in diamonds to microwave resonators could lead to new quantum technologies. Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) have now managed to dramatically prolong the time these systems can store information. The electronics we use for our computers only knows two different states: zero or one. Quantum systems on the…
Diamonds are a Quantum Computer’s Best Friend
A new kind of quantum computer is being proposed by scientists from the TU Wien (Vienna) and Japan (National Institute of Informatics and NTT Basic Research Labs). The Quantum Computer is the Holy Grail of quantum technology. Its computing power would eclipse even the fastest classical computers we have today. A team of researchers from…
The Inflatable Concrete Dome
Large shell structures made of concrete or stone are hardly ever built any more. The reason is that their construction requires large, expensive supporting structures. At the Vienna University of Technology, a completely new construction method has been developed, which does not require any timber structures at all: a flat concrete slab hardens on the…
Researchers Create Ultra-Thin Light Detectors
A new, extremely thin kind of light detectors was created at Vienna University of Technology. Two very different technologies were combined for the first time: metamaterials and quantum cascade structures. Subtle interactions of electrons and light make them so valuable for technology: ultra-thin systems of semiconductor layers can turn electrical voltage into light. But they…
Coupling Electricity & Magnetism in Materials
Major industries such as modern microelectronics are based on the interaction between matter and electromagnetism. Electromagnetic signals can be processed and stored in specially tailored materials. In materials science, electric and magnetic effects have usually been studied separately. There are, however, extraordinary materials called “multiferroics”, in which electric and magnetic excitations are closely linked. Scientists…
A Single-Atom Light Switch
With just a single atom, light can be switched between two fiber optic cables at the Vienna University of Technology. Such a switch enables quantum phenomena to be used for information and communication technology. fiber optic cables are turned in to a quantum lab: scientists are trying to build optical switches at the smallest possible…
Creating Electricity with Caged Atoms
At the Vienna University of Technology, a new class of thermoelectric materials has been discovered; Due to a surprising physical effect they can be used to create electricity more efficiently. A lot of energy is wasted when machines turn hot, unnecessarily heating up their environment. Some of this thermal energy could be harvested using thermoelectric…
Data Highways for Quantum Information
Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology quantum mechanically couple atoms to glass fiber cables. Now, they have shown that their technique enables storage of quantum information over a sufficiently long period of time to realize global quantum networks based on optical fibers. Will emails be quantum encrypted in the future? Will we be able…
Aircraft Sensors without Batteries or Cables
An idea from EADS and Vienna University of Technology is taking off: in a joint project, Energy Harvester Modules suitable for aircrafts have been tested, which should supply sensor nodes with electrical power in the future. Like a nervous system in a human body, sensor networks attached to the aircraft fuselage will in future record…