Creating a Supernova
Stellar explosions in the lab
A report by:
FComm. D.L. Wey
DCOSR: SFS-SFC
In an effort to better understand the nature of the death of a stellar body, research has been conducted by this facility into the very nature of a supernova.
About 160,000 years ago, a giant blue star ran out of fuel, its center collapsing, only to rebound in a colossal shock wave. The resulting flash produced more energy in its first ten seconds than all the visible stars and galaxies in the sky. Using a specially designed laser, producing a thirty trillion watt beam, a recreation of what happened to supernova 1987A was conducted.
A three-millimeter long cylinder, containing a patch of copper and plastic, is lowered into the center of the laser. When the unit is activated, sending a thunderbolt of energy through the cylinder, the insides are vaporized, creating a seething plasma.
The result is a simulated supernova, very similar to those created by computer. Unfortunately, these experiments only work with two dimensional material, further research into this phenomenon will be required to truly understand the nature of a natural supernova.
Semiconductor Circuits and the Quantum mechanical effect
A report by:
FComm. D.L. Wey
Ru·bi·con (r›"b¹-k¼n") n. A limit that when passed or exceeded permits of no return and typically results in irrevocable commitment
.In the world of the semiconductor, such a point is reached at fifty nanometers, or fifty billionths of a meter. For at this point, the very nature of quantum mechanics may spell the metal-oxide semiconductors' death knell.
Researchers have created an ‘experimental’ nanotransister, in which the gate[the segment of the unit which turns the transistor on and off], is only sixty nanometer's across[or about 180 atoms across].
This transistor, which is smaller by a factor of four than any in use today, demonstrates the feasibility of devices that are smaller, faster, and require less power than that in use today. Power consumption ranged from one sixtieth to one one hundred sixtieth that of current transistors. Such circuits were created by the use of electron beams[which were used to pattern the circuits themselves].
However, attempts to decrease the size further caused massive drop-offs in circuit function. It may well be that the MOS. type of semiconductor circuit has seen its final days.