Industrializing entanglement

It is hard to imaging the making of the first transistor, now that we make them by the millions. How did we went from making a single, precious and delicate transistor to its mass production?

In a way we are living that very same moment with quantum entanglement (QE). Just months ago the QE of two particles meant a huge achievement. Today, ‘on demand’ entanglement links have been reported in Nature. Quantum entanglement is the pillar of a secure quantum internet. So a way to establish fast and stable links between particles is needed. Thanks to Prof. R. Hanson (QuTech and Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, TuDelft), we are at the verge of QE mass production.

As it is explained at TuDelft website “First of all, they demonstrated a new entanglement method. This allows for the generation of entanglement forty times a second between electrons at a distance of two metres. Peter Humphreys, an author of the paper, emphasises: ‘This is a thousand times faster than with the old method.’ In combination with a smart way of protecting the quantum link from external noise, the experiment has now surpassed a crucial threshold: for the first time, entanglement can be created faster than it is lost.”

Michel van Baal kindly asked for our help in the making of a picture of quantum network. We feel kind of proud been close witnesses of these important discoveries.

The perfect blend

FRET is a mechanism describing energy transfer between two light-sensitive molecules. Dr. Juan Cabanillas (IMDEA Nanociencia) et al. have studied different fluorene-based polymer blends to produce low threshold lasers operating between 540 and 590 nm (green/yellow). They’ve established the optimal conjugation length of the polymers (number of units) which produces a 4 times increase in optical gain and a 34 reduction in amplified spontaneous emission threshold.

In this paper it is proven how a careful configuration dramatically improves the efficiency of these systems, suggesting a lot of space for improvement. These materials show to be of great interest for electrically pumped light emission struc­tures including LEDs and LETs.

This research has appeared in the cover of Advanced Functional Materials.

The scouts finally arrived

A few months ago we made a press release on the recent work of Prof. Pere Cusachs: a beautiful research where they study how the cell interacts with its environment.

We help them made a beautiful image for them, picturing a cell exploring its surroundings. That image got particularly popular, making it to PhD manuscript covers and even t-shirts.

Finally, a different version of the picture made it to the cover of a biology journal: Trends in Cell Biology

Splitting Miss Young

We participate in outreach projects every time we can. And this is one of those. Nanokomik is a comic contest organized by the research centers CIC nanoGUNE and the Donostia International Phyisics Center (DIPC). Last year’s challenge was to create a graphic story about a female or male comic superhero with “nanopowers”, that is, sophisticated skills or powers acquired through nanoscience and nanotechnology.

 

We created Miss Young, a superhero with the ability of been everywhere at the same time when nobody is observing her.

We didn’t win the contest but it certainly was a great experience to make our first comic in a traditional way.

Send the scouts!!!

Cells are able to perceive their surroundings by detecting forces. Interactions between cells and their ligands is essential to sustain the tissues functionalities, and detection of changes in the cell environment is of key importance to tissue growth, which includes embryogenesis or tumor proliferation. Cells are able to detect the position of molecules in their environment with nanometric precision and through forces, they are able to perceive their surroundings.

This work published in Nature has been directed by professor Pere Roca Cusachs (Universidad de Barcelona and Instituto de Bioingeniería de Cataluña).

 

To illustrate their research, we designed this picture with the help of Roger Oria.

Packing with hydrogels

Do you need to structure your macromolecules in your water solution? Now it is possible. By forming the low-molecular-weight hydrogel throughout all phases of all-aqueous emulsions, distinct, micro-compartmentalized materials were created. This structuring approach offers control over the composition of each type of the compartments by directing the partitioning of objects to be encapsulated.

We created this cover for Department of Chemical Engineering at TU Delft, with the help of Serhii Mytnyk.

Targeted Delivery

The delivery of therapeutics through the skin (topical administration) has an important advantage: it allows a targeted delivery. The problem is that only light lipophilic molecules can easily cross the outermost layer of the epidermis. This happens to be amazingly difficult for proteins: one of the reasons being their exterior is usually pretty hydrophilic.

Prof. Marcelo Calderón and co-workers (Freie Universität Berlin and University of Potsdam) have presented a method which solves this problem using nanocarrier systems. They’ve synthesized thermoresponsive nanogels which they’ve used to encapsulate the anti-TNFα fusion protein etanercept. This happens to be a pretty big protein used for the treatment of psoriasis and arthritis. Importantly, the encapsulation process, does not change its structure. Now, the protein, encapsulated in the nanogel, crosses the barrier effectively delivering the treatment.

They’ve reported their findings in Threranostics and their research made it to its cover.

We designed the picture under the close supervision of Prof. Sarah Hedtrich and Prof. Marcelo Calderón.

Amino acids in your fingerprints!

Fingermark evidence has been, and still is, extensively used in criminal investigations. But it is not about its shape and marks anymore. Chemistry and biology joined the game. At Prof. Marcel de Puit lab (Netherlands Forensic Institute), they are studying amino acid profiles obtained from fingerprints. They have come up with a method for the separation and quantification of amino acids from fingerprint.

With the help of Ward van Helmond, first author of the article, we designed this image, that made it to the cover of Analytical Methods.

Excitons in Graphene

Today, in “is there something graphene is not capable of“, excitons in graphene. The team lead by professor Paul McEuen (at Cornell University) is studying the optical properties of single-atom-thick layers of graphene. And they have just reported the observation of excitons in a graphene bylayer. These electrically neutral quasiparticles, make graphene of possible interest in the development of optoelectronic devices.

Closely directed by Long Ju, co-lead author of the paper, we made this image to illustrate this finding.

Uni Nova research magazine

Uni Nova is the research magazine of the University of Basel. Together with the head of communications of the university, Reto Caluori, we made a few images that happened to be published in Uni Nova’s November issue. In particular in articles about quantum sensors, the use of silicon for quantum computing and Qubits.

 

At Basel University, they are not only making high quality research. They are also succeeding at communicating it. And they also happen to be amazingly charming people. So much, that they sent a paper copy of the magazine.

How cool is to have it in physical format.