news 2023

Researchers have developed a hybrid device that significantly improves existing, ubiquitous laser technology. The team at EPFL's Photonic Systems Laboratory (PHOSL) has developed a chip-scale laser source that enhances the performance of semiconductor lasers while enabling the generation of shorter wavelengths.

A team of astronomers has used asteroseismology, or the study of stellar oscillations, to accurately measure the distance of stars from the Earth. Their research examined thousands of stars and checked the measurements taken during the Gaia mission to study the near Universe. For most of us, the countless bright spots in the nighttime sky all seem to be stars.

Researchers have developed an algorithm to train an analog neural network just as accurately as a digital one, enabling the development of more efficient alternatives to power-hungry deep learning hardware. With their ability to process vast amounts of data through algorithmic 'learning' rather than traditional programming, it often seems like the potential of deep neural networks like Chat-GPT is limitless.

Researchers have shown for the first time that microvehicles can be steered through blood vessels in the brains of mice using ultrasound. They hope that this will eventually lead to treatments capable of delivering drugs with pinpoint precision. Brain tumours, brain haemorrhages and neurological and psychological conditions are often hard to treat with medication.

Researchers from ETH Zurich, Empa and Stanford have taken snapshots of the crystal structure of perovskite nanocrystals as it was deformed by excited electrons. To their surprise, the deformation straightened out the skewed crystal structure rather than making it more disordered. Many a scientific and technical problem could be solved easily if it were possible to look inside a material and watch its atoms and electrons wiggle about in real time.

Geophysicists at ETH Zurich have shown that every single wave of a magnitude 3.9 earthquake registers in the noise suppression system of fibre-optic networks.

Researchers have detected a new type of magnetism in an artificially produced material. The material becomes ferromagnetic through minimization of the kinetic energy of its electrons. For a magnet to stick to a fridge door, inside of it several physical effects need to work together perfectly. The magnetic moments of its electrons all point in the same direction, even if no external magnetic field forces them to do so.

Developed by researchers, the first large-scale in-memory processor using 2D semiconductor materials could substantially cut the ICT sector's energy footprint. As information and communication technologies (ICT) process data, they convert electricity into heat. Already today, the global ICT ecosystem's CO2 footprint rivals that of aviation.

A research collaboration has uncovered a surprising magnetic property of an exotic material that might lead to computers that need less than one-millionth of the energy required to switch a single bit. The world of materials science is constantly discovering or fabricating materials with exotic properties.

A team from the University of Geneva has developed an electrical device that makes it easy to activate chemical reactions in a 'greener' way. New pharmaceuticals, cleaner fuels, biodegradable plastics: in order to meet society's needs, chemists have to develop new synthesis methods to obtain new products that do not exist in their natural state.

A collaborative study with EPFL builds a novel theory to explain the puzzling collective behavior of glass-forming liquids at low temperatures, a phenomenon with widespread implications in fields like material science and biology. Glass, despite its apparent transparency and rigidity, is a complex and intriguing material.

Scientists at EPFL have synthesized the first ever metal-organic frameworks membrane with thickness of just one unit cell. The ultrathin film yields record-high separation performance of hydrogen-nitrogen. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of materials that contain nano-sized pores. These pores give MOFs record-breaking internal surface areas, which make them extremely versatile for a number of applications: separating petrochemicals and gases , mimicking DNA , producing hydrogen , and removing heavy metals , fluoride anions , and even gold from water are just a few examples.

Scientists at EPFL have synthesized the first ever metal-organic frameworks membrane with thickness of just one unit cell. The ultrathin film yields record-high separation performance of hydrogen. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of materials that contain nano-sized pores. These pores give MOFs record-breaking internal surface areas, which make them extremely versatile for a number of applications: separating petrochemicals and gases , mimicking DNA , producing hydrogen , and removing heavy metals , fluoride anions , and even gold from water are just a few examples.

Isaac Newton's historic work on gravity was apparently inspired by watching an apple fall to the ground from a tree. But what about an "anti-apple" made of antimatter , would it fall in the same way if it existed? According to Albert Einstein's much-tested theory of general relativity, the modern theory of gravity, antimatter and matter should fall to Earth in the same way.

Scientists show that it is possible to make a femtosecond laser that fits in the palm of one's hand using a glass substrate. Is it possible to make a femtosecond laser entirely out of glass? That's the rabbit hole that Yves Bellouard , head of EPFL's Galatea Laboratory, went down after years of spending hours - and hours - aligning femtosecond lasers for lab experiments.

At Empa, acoustics experts have been investigating for years how noise is generated by passenger and cargo trains - and which technical and structural measures are particularly effective to prevent or at least reduce it. Their findings have now been incorporated into the SILVARSTAR project resulting in a simulation tool for rail noise that can help in practice.

Leveraging results from knot theory and using physical simulation, researchers in the School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC) have created a data set of thousands of different elastic knots that can be used in the design of new structures. Knots are used in all sorts of ways, every day. They ensure safety both indoors and for outdoor activities such as boating or sailing, are used as surgical sutures, as decorations and they can even be found at nano-scales in nature, for example in DNA molecules.

EPFL and University of Manchester researchers unlock secrets of nanofluidics using a 2D material and light. A discovery in the field of nanofluidics could shake up our understanding of molecular behavior on the tiniest scales. Research teams at EPFL and the University of Manchester have revealed a previously hidden world by using the newly found fluorescent properties of a graphene-like 2D material, boron nitride.

Scientists at EPFL and Charles University have developed a new method to analyze the dynamical, out-of-equilibrium properties of complex disordered systems, such as gold with magnetic impurities or opinions spreading on social media. In physics, a "disordered system" refers to a physical system whose components - e.g. its atoms - are not organized in any discernible way.

Researchers make theoretical breakthrough in thermoelectric material to better harness waste heat for sustainable energy. Around 70% of the energy we use in everyday life is wasted in the form of heat, produced by engines, factories, and electrical devices. However, researchers from EPFL's School of Engineering have made a significant theoretical step forward that could boost sustainable energy generation.