SurfacePlasmonResonance
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Flux capacitors sidelined as surface plasmons called upon to increase OLED efficiency
The surface science geeks out there already know that surface plasmons have enjoyed use in spectroscopic fluorescence measurements, but that's about as exciting as chamomile tea at a narcolepsy convention. However, those same surface plasmons have been used by Korean researchers to increase OLED efficiency by 75-percent while also increasing intensity twofold -- and that gets our attention. Note we said "researchers," though; the results were obtained with silver nanoparticles under high vacuum conditions -- in other words, a surface science lab. Although the word is that this technique can be used for flexible OLEDs, we won't be holding our breaths. Heck, at this point, we'd settle for relatively inefficient, inflexible, affordable OLEDs somewhere north of 20-inches.
Researchers tapping into nanotechnology for sharper images
A team of scientists at the University of Glasgow just came into all sorts of cash, and they'll be using it to advance imaging. If you're looking for specifics (and we're assuming you are), a £489,234 grant from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council will be used to study a certain phenomenon called surface plasmon resonance, "which is an effect exhibited by certain metals when light waves fall onto their surfaces." In short, the gurus behind the research are hoping to discover a method of "creating patterns or small nanostructures in the metal film on the CMOS, which should increase the sensitivity of the sensor and result in higher quality images." The bad news? The project is expected to last until 2012, which is like, forever from now.[Image courtesy of Photo]
