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Scientists from TU Wien (Vienna) are proposing a new method for creating extremely strong spin currents. They are essential for spintronics, a technology that could replace today's electronics. A laser pulse hits nickel (green). Spin-up-electrons (red) change into silicon (yellow). Electrons with both spin-orientations change back from silicon into nickel.

When current comes in discrete packages: Viennese scientists unravel the quantum properties of the carbon material graphene. In 2010 the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for the discovery of the exceptional material graphene, which consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice.

[ Florian Aigner Nanostructures etched into the surface: TU Wien develops a new processing technology to improve the electrical properties of glass ceramic circuit boards As you ease your foot off the accelerator, a radar sensor detects how far away you are from the other cars and intelligently adjusts your speed appropriately.

Ultrathin layers made of Tungsten and Selenium have been created at the Vienna University of Technology. Experiments show that they may be used as flexible, semi-transparent solar cells. It does not get any thinner than this: The novel material graphene consists of only one atomic layer of carbon atoms and exhibits very special electronic properties.

In magneto-electric materials, electric and magnetic vibrations can be coupled to "electromagnons". High hopes are placed on this technology, a breakthrough could now be achieved at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien).

At the Vienna University of Technology, a new class of thermoelectric materials has been discovered. Due to a surprising physical effect they can be used to create electricity more efficiently. A lot of energy is wasted when machines turn hot, unnecessarily heating up their environment. Some of this thermal energy could be harvested using thermoelectric materials; they create electric current when they are used to bridge hot and cold objects.

An idea from EADS and Vienna University of Technology is taking off: in a joint project, Energy Harvester Modules suitable for aircrafts have been tested, which should supply sensor nodes with electrical power in the future. Like a nervous system in a human body, sensor networks attached to the aircraft fuselage will in future record and transmit essential data concerning the structural health of the aircraft.

Two lamps are brighter than one. This simple truism does not necessarily apply to lasers, as a team of scientists, led by the Vienna University of Technology found out. When one laser is shining and next to it another laser is turned on gradually, complex interactions between the two lasers can lead to a total shutdown and no light is emitted anymore.

The effect can be seen just by poking a stick into the water; at the water surface, the light changes its direction, the stick appears to be bent. This tilt is described by the refractive index. For years, scientists have been trying to create special materials with a negative refractive index - their optical properties are quite different from those of normal materials.

[ Florian Aigner The novel material graphene makes faster electronics possible. Scientists at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) developed light-detectors made of graphene and analyzed their astonishing properties. High hopes are pinned on this new material: Graphene, a honeycomb-like carbon structure, made of only one layer of atoms, exhibits remarkable properties.

Sensor networks are supposed to pervade the body of airplanes in the future ' much like a nervous system. Thanks to a joint research project of EADS Deutschland GmbH (Germany) and the Vienna University of Technology, the single sensor elements do not require any external power supply. Aircraft maintenance can be time consuming and expensive.

Although silicon has dominated solid-state electronics for more than four decades, a variety of other materials are used in photonic devices to expand the wavelength range of operation and improve performance. Electrical engineer Thomas Müller from the Institute of Photonics at the Vienna University of Technology has published the research results in cooperation with the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA.