Browse Technologies

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A research team lead by Professor Sandra Rosenthal at Vanderbilt University has developed nanocrystals (~2 nm diameter) that emit white light with very high quantum efficiency. This technology would be a viable cost effective candidate for commercial solid-state lighting applications, such as Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). These nanocrystals were originally discovered by the same group in 2005; a recent breakthrough in post-treatment results in improving fluorescent quantum yield up to ~ 45%.

Vanderbilt researchers have synthesized porous adsorbent materials for the capture of toxic industrial chemicals. These adsorbent materials have finely dispersed reactive sites that allow for higher adsorption capacities than existing materials. They can be used in filters for the military, homeland security, first responders, and for a wide range of industrial and commercial catalysts to capture toxic gases such as ammonia and sulfur dioxide.

Phase change materials (PCMs) are a fascinating class of materials that can change certain material properties (e.g., absorbance or reflectivity) upon the application of a stimulus. Researchers at Vanderbilt University have used a PCM to create a novel metamaterial that can be reconfigured for use in a wide range of potential optical and integrated photonic applications from the infrared to terahertz spectral domain.

Vanderbilt University researchers have developed groundbreaking photonic technology that can manipulate light in unprecedented ways, opening up new opportunities for high-speed, high-capacity data transmission. By rotating a dielectric bar within a photonic crystal unit cell, and arraying these unit cells along one direction to form an optical waveguide, the researchers create a new hybrid longitudinally and transverse polarized guided mode in which, for the first time, a longitudinally polarized field component in an optical waveguide supports net energy transport. The new hybrid guided mode leads to the formation of a new type of photonic bandgap and topological protection that can enable highly directional propagation with minimal back reflection.