Hyperlens harnesses metamaterials for ultrasound, sonar Oct 28, 2009
Zhang's group previously demonstrated a hyperlens made from nanowires of silver and aluminum oxide that could focus visible light below its diffraction limit. The group is currently working on a 3-D ultrasound imaging system that will use pulse-echo technology used to "ping" submarines in sonar applications as well as for medical imaging. (EETimes)
First Hyperlens For Sound Waves Created Oct 26, 2009
Fabricated from metamaterials -- composites of metals and dielectrics whose uniquely engineered structures give rise to extraordinary optical properties -- hyperlenses make it possible to overcome the so-called "diffraction limit" by imaging features that are significantly smaller than the wavelengths of incident light. Zhang called the capturing of information carried by evanescent waves "the Holy Grail of optical information" in 2007, when he and his research group announced a hyperlens made... (Science Daily)
Team led by Scripps Research and UC San Diego scientists reveals secrets of drought resistance Oct 23, 2009
Based on the pattern of diffraction, scientists can reconstruct the shape of the original molecule. In this case, the team tried to make crystals of PYR1 bound to abscisic acid. (EurekAlert!)
A brave new brand of science Oct 17, 2009
He said the Nobel prize in physiology and medicine shared by Jim Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, for instance, for unravelling the double helix structure of DNA, might not have been won but for the technical (read physical) tour de force of X-ray diffraction studies achieved by Rosalind Franklin and other colleagues. (She died in 1958 and thus become ineligible for nomination for the prize awarded in 1962. (India Times, India -- Community News)
Nano Measurement In The Third Dimension Oct 14, 2009
For step heights, measurement uncertainties in the subnanometer range - and for measurements of the mean structure spacing on extensive lattice standards even in the range of 10 picometers - have been achieved and confirmed in comparison with optical diffraction measurements. The new measuring instrument is available for dimensional precision measurements with nm resolution on 3D micro and nano structures such as micro gears, micro balls, hardness indenters and nano lattice standards as well as... (Science Daily)
Yale hails U.S. Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureates Oct 8, 2009
This leaves a diffraction pattern scientists use to discern the three-dimensional atomic details of the molecules under study. Steitz used a 2. (Xinhuanet, China)
Texas judge rules gay marriage ban unconstitutional... Oct 3, 2009
"That is what is important here.Anything less than calling it marriage would be treating homosexuals as a 2nd class citizen. Hence why the ban was struck down.Even if it was considered "wrong" in God's eyes, it would be between that person and God, not the government.","createdAt":"2 Oct 2009 23:43:58... (The Drudge Report)
NPL supports growing organic electronics industry Sep 30, 2009
Determined the structure of organic semiconductor layers for thin-film transistors using molecular resolution atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Developed a wettability model based on chemical mapping, which effectively describes experimental surface energy data, as determined by micro-contact angle measurement of printing substrates. (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
New NIST nano-ruler sets some very small marks Sep 23, 2009
Designed to be the most accurate commercially available "meter stick" for the nano world, the new measuring toola calibration standard for X-ray diffractionboasts uncertainties below a femtometer ... X-ray diffraction works by sending X-rays through a crystalwhich could be anything from a wafer used to make microchips to a crystallized sample of an unknown proteinand observing the patterns made by the X-rays as they diffract from electrons in the crystal ... The precision version,... (EurekAlert!)
Laser artist leaves a Legacy of Light Sep 18, 2009
In this show we will also be including his laser installations kinetic universes created with his custom diffraction gratings, said Law, which split the light of tiny green, red or blue lasers into a multitude of points of twinkling light. Using secondary gratings that are free hanging in space, he created shooting stars and myriad moving points of light magical spaces that feel very otherworldly and free floating, she said. (Catskill Daily Mail, NY)
High-res view of zinc transport protein Sep 14, 2009
"As illustrated by this study, even small improvements in x-ray diffraction resolution can greatly advance our mechanistic understanding of protein function," said Fu. . (EurekAlert!)
Chemists Reach From The Molecular To The Real World With Creation Of 3-D DNA Crystals Sep 4, 2009
X-ray diffraction data were collected from DNA crystals and their iodinated derivatives on beamlines X6A and X25 at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York and on beamline ID19 at the Structural Biology Center at Advanced Photon Source in Argonne, Illinois. Bob Sweet, a biophysicist and the leader of the group who run NSLS beamline X25, observed, "This is one of the neatest structures I've seen in years. It really connects biotechnology... (Science Daily)
Scientists Image 'Anatomy' Of A Molecule Aug 29, 2009
Scientists First To Image 'Anatomy' Of A Molecule. Scientists First To Image 'Anatomy' Of A Molecule. (Science Daily)
Safer, denser acetylene storage in an organic framework Aug 27, 2009
The research team used neutron powder diffraction and computer calculations at the NCNR to investigate an MOF called HKUST-1, which has a sponge-like interior in which copper atoms are exposed to the air. The analysis showed that the acetylene attaches to the exposed copper by virtue of weak electrical charges, allowing the MOF to store 201 cubic centimeters of acetylene per gram of lattice at ambient pressurecomparable to the amount of similar chemicals that can be contained within a high... (EurekAlert!)
Nanophysics: Serving Up Buckyballs On A Silver Platter Aug 21, 2009
Now, Hsin-I Li, Renee Diehl, and colleagues have determined the geometry of C60 on a silver surface using a technique called low-energy electron diffraction ... Scientists have imaged the complete structure of C60 molecules on a silver surface with electron diffraction. (Science Daily)
Jet-propelled Imaging For An Ultrafast Light Source Aug 14, 2009
As the crystal rotates in the x-ray beam, x-rays scatter off the atoms and reveal once these complex diffraction patterns have been converted into a 3-D image by computers how the electrons, and thus the atoms, are arranged ... As the process is repeated, diffractions from different angles give the overlapping views needed for the computer to construct a 3-D image of the structure ... These are the smallest protein nanocrystals from which diffraction patterns have ever been obtained, and the... (Science Daily)
Campus science research focuses on neurodynamics, nanoscience Aug 11, 2009
There are facilities for mass spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopes, scanning probe microscopy, an X-ray diffraction laboratory, high field NMR facility, computational facilities and those for molecular modeling. Research groups are Theoretical and Computational Nanoscience, Nanoscale Materials and Systems, and Membrane lar Function. (The Current Online, MO)
Protein Unfolding Is Key For Understanding Blood Clot Mechanics Aug 8, 2009
" The team used a variety of techniques from simple controlled stretching to electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and mathematical modeling, to provide a coherent picture of how fibrin clots behave from the centimeter to the nanometer scale. This multi-scale strategy was vital: "You have to examine events at different spatial scales with various methodologies to understand how fibrin behaves," explains Weisel. Protein unfolding explains how the volume of the fibers... (Science Daily)
Nanoscale Lasers May Open Door To Faster Computers, More Reliable Internet Access Aug 6, 2009
The limit is sometimes called the diffraction limit, a property associated with any wave, such as a beam of light. Current theory says you can't make a laser smaller than this diffraction limit or smaller than 250 nanometers for a semiconductor laser for communications devices ... "It turns out that the electrons excited in metals can help you confine a light in a laser to sizes smaller than that required by the diffraction limit," Ning explains. (Science Daily)
Physicists Find Way To Explore Microscopic Systems Through Holographic Video Jul 31, 2009
When an object is placed into path of the microscope's beam, the object scatters some of the beam's light into a complex diffraction pattern. The scattered light overlaps with the original beam to create an interference pattern reminiscent of overlapping ripples in a pool of water. (Science Daily)
Earliest animals on Earth lived in lakes Jul 28, 2009
The researchers' work involved collecting hundreds of rock samples from several localities in South China, carrying out mineralogical analysis using X-ray diffraction, and collecting and analyzing other types of geochemical data. "All our analyses show that the rocks' minerals and geochemistry are not compatible with deposition in seawater," Bristow said. (India Times)
Artificial Leaf Development: Structure Of Artificial Light Harvesting Antenna Determined Jul 14, 2009
They did this using a combination of solid state NMR and X-ray diffraction (see attachment). X-ray diffraction enabled them to determine the overall structure and NMR allowed them to penetrate deeply into the molecules ... The model based of the semi-synthetic light harvesters based on NMR with the symmetry characteristics in line with powder diffraction measurements. (Science Daily)
New Images May Improve Vaccine Design For Deadly Rotavirus Jun 27, 2009
Computers helped capture the diffraction patterns that emerged as the x-rays scattered from the crystal lattice. By rotating the crystallized protein complexes through multiple exposures, the researchers could record enough data to calculate three-dimensional models, which exposed the underlying architecture of VP7 and the antibody fragment. (Science Daily)
New fabricated material changes color instantly in response to external magnetic field Jun 17, 2009
"The new technology has a great potential for a wide range of photonic applications because the on/off switching of the diffraction color by the rotating photonic sphere is fast, greatly simplifying the pixel structures," said Seoul National University's , a leading expert in biophotonics and nanoengineering, whose lab collaborated with Yin's lab on the research. "Therefore, the new technology is suitable for very large-scale displays, such as active signage.". (EurekAlert!)
Tunable Graphene Bandgap Opens The Way To Nanoelectronics And Nanophotonics Jun 16, 2009
"In principle we could have used a tunable laser to measure the optical transmission, but the 1.4 beamline is very bright and can be focused down to the diffraction limit an important consideration when the graphene-flake target is so small," Wang says. "Also, compared to a laser, the beamline provides a wider range of frequencies all at once, so we don't have to painstakingly tune to each absorption frequency we're trying to measure.". (Science Daily)
'Colossal' Magnetic Effect Advances Computing Jun 6, 2009
To study the magnetic properties of manganites, a form of manganese oxide, the research team, led by Yang Ding of the Carnegie Institution s High Pressure Synergetic Center (HPSync), applied techniques called x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and angular-dispersive diffraction at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) of Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. High pressure XMCD is a newly developed technique that uses high-brilliance circularly polarized x-rays to probe the magnetic state of... (Science Daily)
Secrets of a cell May 25, 2009
Until recently, light microscopes were seen as inferior to newer deep-peering technologies because of a fundamental constraint: At a point called the diffraction barrier, light waves begin to interfere with one another, blurring images below the size of a human cell to fuzzy blobs. So for close-up examination of smaller bits - protein clusters, viruses, DNA - scientists of the past 50 or 60 years relied heavily on electron microscopes and other imaging tools that bombarded lifeless, "fixed"... (Boston Globe)
Invisibility cloaks spread out May 23, 2009
Other invisibility cloaks use optical diffraction gratings that tune into specific wavelengths with a negative index of refraction that allows the cloak to provide invisibility, but only at those wavelengths. The Purdue device was formed from two gold-coated surfaces, one a curved lens, the other a flat sheet. (EETimes)
Vise squad: Putting the squeeze on a crystal leads to novel electronics May 9, 2009
Guided by precision X-ray diffraction data from NIST, Li developed a finely controlled method of depositing the strontium titanate in stages, gradually building up layers that were only a few molecules thick ... X-ray diffraction data were taken at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. (EurekAlert!)
Method To Integrate Plasmon-based Nanophotonic Circuitry With State-of-the-art ICs Developed May 8, 2009
Moreover, surface plasmons are capable of capturing, guiding, and focusing electromagnetic energy in deep-subwavelength length-scales, i.e. smaller than the diffraction limit of the light. This is unlike conventional dielectric optical waveguides, which are limited by the wavelength of the light, and which therefore cannot be scaled down to tens of nanometers, which is the dimension of the components on today s nanoelectronic ICs. (Science Daily)
World's Smallest Incandescent Lamp May 7, 2009
20, 2009) A new imaging technique overcomes the limit of diffraction and can reveal the atomic structure of a single nanocrystal with a resolution of less than one angstrom (less than one hundredth-millionth. (Sep. (Science Daily)
Matrix Protein Key To Fighting Viruses May 5, 2009
The researchers grew crystals of the protein, crystallised them, and then used x-ray diffraction to determine the position in space of every atom of the protein. The information was then used to create images of the protein s structure. (Science Daily)
Catching The Lightwave: Nano-mechanical Sensors 'Wired' By Photonics May 5, 2009
Their technique is not limited by the bandwidth constraints of electrical methods or the diffraction limits of light sources. "We don't need a laser to operate these devices," said Wolfram Pernice, a co-author of the paper. (Science Daily)
New Hope For Biomass Fuels: Breaking The Ties That Bind Apr 30, 2009
X-ray Crystallographic, Scanning Microprobe X-ray Diffraction, and Cross-Polarized/Magic Angle Spinning 13C NMR Studies of the Structure of Cellulose IIIII. Biomacromolecules, 2009; 10 (2): 302 DOI. Adapted from materials provided by. (Science Daily)
Scripps research scientists model 3D structures of proteins that control human clock Apr 11, 2009
He moved the gene from the plant into E. coli bacteria to produce a lot of the protein, which he then crystallized to determine the atomic structure by using X-ray diffraction. The researchers then produced a variety of mutant proteins in order to test the functional structure of the enzymes. (EurekAlert!)
Carbon Dioxide Forms Polymeric Materials Under High Pressure Apr 5, 2009
Based on the good agreement between their calculated Raman spectra and X-ray diffraction patterns and the previous experimental values, a new interpretation of a previous experimental result is given. A recently identified dense phase VI found in experiment, assumed to be disordered stishovite-like structure, is instead interpreted as the result of an incomplete transformation from the molecular phase into a final layered polymeric structure. (Science Daily)
Scripps scientists find structure of a protein that makes cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy Mar 27, 2009
The atoms in the protein crystals cause the x-rays to diffract, and the scientists collect and analyze the pattern of diffraction to solve the atomic-level structure of the proteins. "The biggest challenge was to get enough protein to purify and make crystals from it," says Stephen Aller, Ph. (EurekAlert!)
OFC/NFOEC features breakthroughs in next-generation ethernet, metamaterials, networks Mar 18, 2009
These lenses can be used to image objects with a spatial resolution smaller than the wavelength of the illuminating light source, thus circumventing the normal "diffraction limit," which says that a lens cannot produce an image with a spatial resolution better than approximately half the wavelength of the light used to make the image. Alexander Kildishev will report on optical metamaterial progress at Purdue, including the shortest wavelength light (710 nm) yet achieved for a negative index... (EurekAlert!)
Taking The Stress Out Of Magnetic Field Detection Feb 23, 2009
Electron diffraction patterns (insets) tell a similar story the material with larger crystal grains display sharper, more discrete scattering patterns. (Color added for clarity. (Science Daily)
Viruses' Protective Shield Deciphered Feb 17, 2009
The image was painstakingly created from hundreds of high-energy X-ray diffraction images and paints the clearest picture yet of the viruses' genome-encasing shell called a "capsid." ... Pan first spent several months creating hundreds of crystal samples of PsV-F. He then collected hundreds of high-intensity, high-energy X-ray diffraction images at the Cornell High Energy Synchotron Source, or CHESS, in Ithaca, N.Y. By analyzing the way the X-rays scattered when they struck the crystals, Pan and... (Science Daily)
New Refrigeration System Based On Magnetics More Economical And Quieter Than Current Technology Feb 13, 2009
Working alongside (and inspired by) visiting scientists from the Beijing University of Technology, the team used NIST s neutron diffraction equipment to analyze the novel alloy. They found that when exposed to a magnetic field, the newfound material s crystal structure completely changes, which explains its exceptional performance. (Science Daily)
Long-sought Protein Structure May Help Reveal How 'Gene Switch' Works Feb 10, 2009
Using CRP from the bacterium Escherichia coli, researchers were able to crystallize the protein in its active ("on") state and examine the structure using a technique called X-ray diffraction ... But the real excitement came when the crystals were examined with X-ray diffraction. (Science Daily)
Texas State U Acquires Rigaku SCXmini Chemical Crystallography Instrument for Cyber-enabled Teaching and Research Feb 8, 2009
Tokyo, Jan 24, 2009 (JCN) - Rigaku Americas announced that the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Texas State University has purchased a Rigaku SCXmini benchtop small molecule X-ray diffraction (XRD) crystallography instrument for Cyber-enabled Small Molecule Structure Analysis for Research and Educational Purposes as funded by a Major Research Instrumentation program (MRI) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) ... In a recent interview, Professors Martin and Beall... (JCN Network, Japan)
