news from the lab 2016

A new method allows scientists at ETH Zurich and IBM to fabricate artificial molecules out of different types of microspheres. The researchers would like to one day use such tiny objects in micro-robots, for photonics and basic biochemical research. Scientists at ETH Zurich and IBM Research Zurich have developed a new technique that enables for the first time the manufacture of complexly structured tiny objects joining together microspheres.

28. EPFL researchers have shown that a law of physics having to do with electron transport at nanoscale can also be analogously applied to the ion transport. This discovery provides insight into a key aspect of how ion channels function within our living cells. The membrane of all human cells contains tiny channels through which ions pass through at high speed.

As reported by the journal Nature in its latest issue, researchers from Empa, the Max Planck Institute in Mainz and the Technical University of Dresden have for the first time succeeded in producing graphene nanoribbons with perfect zigzag edges from molecules. Electrons on these zigzag edges exhibit different (and coupled) rotational directions ("spin").

23. EPFL researchers have developed a way to explore and optimize gold nanoparticles, which are used in medicine, biology and solar cells. Artists have used gold nanoparticles for centuries, because they produce vibrant colors when sunlight hits them. Their unique optical-electronics properties have put gold nanoparticles at the center of research, solar cells, sensors, chemotherapy, drug delivery, biological and medical applications, and electronic conductors.

Researchers at ETH have shown for the first time what happens to atomic vibrations when materials are nanosized and how this knowledge can be used to systematically engineer nanomaterials for different applications. All materials are made up of atoms, which vibrate. These vibrations, or "phonons", are responsible, for example, for how electric charge and heat is transported in materials.

Graphene, a modified form of carbon, offers versatile potential for use in coating machine components and in the field of electronic switches. An international team of researchers led by physicists at the University of Basel have been studying the lubricity of this material on the nanometer scale. Since it produces almost no friction at all, it could drastically reduce energy loss in machines when used as a coating, as the researchers report .

12.02.16 - 1.3 billion years ago, two black holes collided in an enormous explosion of energy. The massive event sent gravitational waves across space-time. The waves finally passed through Earth last September, to be detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States.

Researchers working under Jürg Leuthold, Professor of Photonics and , have created the world's smallest integrated optical switch.

29. Researchers led by EPFL have made a tiny, ring-shaped device that can generate a pulsed laser signal.

13. At EPFL, fiber optics specialists have discovered some unique qualities of spider silk when it comes to conducting light and reacting to certain substances.

Secondary school physics teachers with little teaching experience handed out significantly poorer grades to girls than boys for the exact same performance.