The Ultrachron

Analyzing Tiny Time Crystals with the Ultrachron: The Ultrachron is an electron microprobe designed to analyze grains of monazite, a mineral that contains rare earth metals cerium, lanthanum, and neodymium. In some monazite crystals, uranium and thorium are also present. Because these latter two elements undergo radioactive decay in a predictable time pattern, their presence turns monazite into a tiny timekeeper.

More information about the Ultrachron and its research applications is available at: Ultra-Chron Project.

Today's Updates

Researchers 'see' catalyst molecules at work: Researchers have for the first time 'watched' in real time single molecules of catalyst participating in a reaction at a solid-liquid interface

Instant insight: Nanocrystals as sensors: This article address the paradox around quantum dots... the properties of the quantum dots for imaging and labeling applications are achieved by making the quantum dot impervious to its environment. How can quantum dots be sensitive to their environment if they are encased within the cocoon of a passivating overcoat?

Nanoscale scales: Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US have designed a device able to accurately weigh to within one femtogram (one thousandth of a millionth of a millionth or 10-15 of a gram) single nanoparticles within a liquid.

Water's surface is acidic: Pure, neutral water has an acid skin. This striking notion has now been confirmed by calculations and tests.The finding could be significant for a number of disciplines. In atmospheric chemistry, many important chemical reactions between trace gases take place at the surface of water droplets in clouds where pH is an essential factor and low pH could also affect the rates of carbon dioxide absorption at the ocean surface. In molecular biology the effect might be reproduced where water comes into contact with water-repelling (hydrophobic) parts of proteins, changing the acid-base chemistry.

Determination of Size and Concentration of Gold Nanoparticles from UV-Vis Spectra: Work by Wolfgang Haiss et al. provide a simple and fast method to determine size and concentration of nanoparticles. Their work, published in Analytical Chemistry describe the theoretical analysis on the dependence of the optical properties of spherical gold nanoparticles on particle size and wavelength using multipole scattering theory, where the complex refractive index of gold was corrected for the effect of a reduced mean free path of the conduction electrons in small particles. The theoretical results were compared to experimental data; gold nanoparticles in the size range of 5 to 100 nm were synthesized and characterized with TEM and UV-vis. Excellent agreement was found, showing that the data produced here can be used to determine both size and concentration of gold nanoparticles directly from UV-Vis spectra. Equations for this purpose are derived, and the precision of various methods is discussed.

Scanning magnetoresistance microscopy

Scanning magnetoresistance microscopy of atom chips
Results highlight the use of scanning MR microscopy as a convenient and powerful technique for precisely characterizing the magnetic fields produced near the surface of atom chips.

A Peek Inside*

The semiconductor industry routinely fabricates device structures with feature sizes smaller than 100 nm. With millions of components crowded onto each chip and complex circuitry arrayed in three dimensions, methods to test the structures for defects--preferably nondestructively and with high throughput--become challenging. Techniques for imaging the subsurface structures tend to face a tradeoff between resolution and contrast. The probe light must have a relatively long wavelength (usually in the infrared) in order to penetrate through several millimeters of silicon in the wafer and be absorbed by the active layers of the device; however, this wavelength requirement has generally restricted lateral resolution. Ramsay et al. combine immersion lens imaging with two-photon absorption microscopy to improve both the lateral resolution and the absorption contrast, thereby providing a technique for the high-resolution three-dimensional imaging of the subsurface structures in silicon chip circuitry. -- ISO

Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 131101 (2007).

*the above text is taken directly from - this link: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol316/issue5822/twil.dtl?rss=1#316/5822/174b