Lifetime of atoms extended using a mirror

Posted on October 23, 2015 by adminedit

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have succeeded in an experiment where they get an artificial atom to survive ten times longer than normal by positioning the atom in front of a mirror. The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Physics. The artificial atom consists of a superconducting circuit on a silicon chip. The interaction between the atom and its mirror image modifies the vacuum fluctuations seen by the atom and thus its lifetime. The microwaves that mediate...

Miniature invisibility cloak that can conceal 3-D objects by refracting light waves.

Posted on October 5, 2015 by adminedit

Scientists at the Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley have created an invisibility cloak made from a thin material covered with millions of gold-plated antennae which wraps around an object and uses the antennae to divert light waves from its surface, rendering it undetectable to the human eye. Light reflects off the cloak as if it were reflecting off a flat mirror. Unlike the fictional character, the ultrathin cloak is real, and it successfully concealed microscopic 3D objects from detection in vis...

A mirror that monitors vital signs

Posted on October 5, 2015 by adminedit

Wish you could check your vital stats while brushing your teeth? Thanks to the new innovation by MIT PhD student Ming-Zher Poh, reading your pulse and other vital stats may someday be as easy as standing in your bathroom. Working with public-domain software, Poh developed a way to measure the pulse by analyzing subjects sitting in front of a two-way mirror. The MIT Media Lab Medical Mirror is equipped with a computer monitor along with a built-in camera that tracks changes in brightness pr...