MAROKO133 Hot ai: New photonic chip traps light for millions of cycles using protective co

📌 MAROKO133 Breaking ai: New photonic chip traps light for millions of cycles usin

A team of researchers has developed a new way to trap light on a chip for millions of cycles, overcoming a long-standing challenge in photonic device engineering.

The approach allows delicate atomically thin materials to be shaped without damage, unlocking their potential for high-performance optical systems.

The work focuses on van der Waals materials, a class of ultra-thin substances known for their exceptional optical and electronic properties. Despite their promise, these materials have been difficult to use as structural components because standard fabrication methods can easily damage them.

To address this, the researchers introduced a protective step before fabrication. They coated the material with a thin aluminum layer that absorbs the impact of harsh processing tools, allowing precise shaping at the nanoscale without degrading the material.

Using this method, the team created tiny disk-shaped structures that can confine light extremely efficiently. These microdisks allow light to circulate repeatedly with minimal loss, reaching performance levels not previously achieved with such materials.

Shielding fragile materials

“Yet, despite their enormous potential, using vdW materials as structural building blocks has remained a major challenge,” said Xiaoqi Cui.

The protective coating acts as a temporary barrier during fabrication, enabling what the researchers describe as nanoscale surgery. “This aluminium layer works like a microscopic suit of armour,” said Andreas Liapis. “It absorbs the destructive impact of the ion beam.”

The result is a set of ultra-smooth structures that preserve the material’s crystal quality while achieving high precision. These devices reached quality factors above 1,000,000, meaning only a tiny fraction of light is lost during each cycle. In practical terms, light can circulate inside the structure millions of times before fading.

“This performance surpasses previous vdW resonant systems by three orders of magnitude,” said Zhipei Sun.

Boosting light interactions

The ability to trap light so effectively has important consequences. When light remains confined within a structure, it interacts more strongly with the material, enhancing optical effects that are otherwise weak.

In testing, the researchers observed a 10,000-fold increase in efficiency in second harmonic generation, a process used to convert light from one frequency to another. This level of improvement opens up new possibilities for compact photonic systems.

The advance also moves vdW materials from being passive components to active building blocks in photonic devices.

This could support the development of reconfigurable circuits, quantum light sources, and highly sensitive sensors integrated directly onto chips.

More broadly, the study shows that materials once considered too fragile can now be engineered into functional devices with record performance. It also highlights how combining protective fabrication techniques with advanced materials can unlock new capabilities in photonics.

The approach also benefits from the naturally smooth, defect-free surfaces of these materials, which reduce light scattering and improve performance. By combining precise fabrication with strong material properties, the method pushes photonic chips closer to real-world applications in computing and sensing.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Materials.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com

📌 MAROKO133 Update ai: Amazon Accused of Hiding Worker’s Death for a Week, Making

Amazon’s warehouse operations have long struggled with high rates of injury. A 2024 investigation led by Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions member Bernie Sanders accused the company of pushing for higher productivity at the cost of employee safety, in conclusions Amazon vehemently denied at the time.

But even in the case of a worker’s death, managers are being instructed to tell employees to look away. At least,that’s according to a startling new investigation by the Western Edge, which found that Amazon tried to keep the April 6 death of a worker at its distribution center in Troutdale, Oregon, from being publicized. The outlet is the first to report on the death one week later.

Worse yet, an employee, who was given the pseudonym Sam, told the outlet that despite seeing a “body form laying lifeless,” his supervisor told them to “please get back to work.”

A woman reportedly ran over to the individual in distress and began performing chest compressions on him. Sam, who is trained in CPR, suggested they should help her.

“I start sobbing and said, ‘I want to help, please!’ I know she’s going to get tired and need to be subbed out,” they told The Western Edge.

“It has to be management or safety team,” his supervisor replied. “Just turn around and not look. Let’s get back to work,” Sam recalled his boss telling him. According to the shaken worker, even his supervisor had tears in their eyes.

While first responders eventually showed up to the man who had collapsed, the incident shocked employees, with some calling out middle management for being too callous in their response.

The news comes just days after a man lit a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse filled to the brim with toilet paper and other highly flammable paper products on fire. Footage shows him lighting tall stacks of paper on fire while seething that “all you had to do was pay us enough to live.”

Amazon has previously fought off accusations of being responsible for a series of deaths at its distribution centers across the country, lawsuits involving the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that have overwhelmingly landed in Amazon’s favor.

Beyond callous supervisors, workers at the Troutdale facility told the Western Edge that sound dampening material allegedly installed to keep noise out of nearby offices had blocked airflow, causing temperatures to climb. In 2019, the Portland Mercury called it a “notoriously dangerous” warehouse.

The man who died at the warehouse was a “tote runner,” meaning his job was to move large yellow plastic bins to a cart, a physically-demanding activity. A cause of death has yet to be identified.

Supervisors reportedly kept the information that somebody had died from other employees for several hours from many workers, sending staff home at the end of their 3:45 pm break. That means workers, including ones who knew about the death, had to keep working for several hours following the incident.

“Truthfully, I now have even less respect for our leadership team than I did before, which I didn’t know was possible,” one worker pseudonymously identified as RJ told the Western Edge. “It makes me feel more ashamed to work there knowing that people can drop dead and we have to carry on knowing it doesn’t matter to the higher ups, and everyone is replaceable.”

Supervisors did respond to messages on a employee app called My Voice, offering shaken workers counseling services and unpaid leave. However, Sam noticed they weren’t paid for a full shift after being sent home early.

Amazon did not respond to Western Edge‘s request for comment.

The reporting paints a damning picture of the conditions inside Amazon’s distribution warehouses. Worse yet,  The New York Times reported in October that the company is looking to replace more than 600,000 jobs with robots, efforts that have met significant headwinds.

Meanwhile, employees are being pushed to their limits in what critics continue to argue is an unsafe work environment.

“Between being told we should get back to work while a coworker is getting CPR and being told not to help, I just can’t support a corporation like that,” Sam told the Western Edge. “We are just numbers.”

More on Amazon: Arrests Made for Murder at Amazon Facility

The post Amazon Accused of Hiding Worker’s Death for a Week, Making Employees Keep Working as Corpse Lay on Floor appeared first on Futurism.

🔗 Sumber: futurism.com