RLE News

New graphene treatment could unleash new uses

New graphene treatment could unleash new uses

MIT team develops simple, inexpensive method that could help realize material’s promise for electronics, solar power, and sensors. « more » Related Links: New graphene treatment could unleash new uses (MIT News) Professor Jeffrey Grossman Grossman…

Tripped tongues teach speech secrets

Tripped tongues teach speech secrets

Tongue twisters are not just fun to say; it turns out that these sound-related slip-ups can also open windows into the brain’s speech-planning processes. A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will report new insights gleaned from a comparison of…

Vivek Goyal Named 2014 IEEE Fellow

Vivek Goyal Named 2014 IEEE Fellow

Vivek Goyal, Principal Investigator of the RLE Signal Transformation and Information Representation Group, has been named an IEEE Fellow. Goyal is being recognized “for contributions to information representations and their applications in acquisition, communication,…

3‑D images, with only one photon per pixel

3‑D images, with only one photon per pixel

New scheme could enable laser rangefinders to infer depth from a hundredth as much light — and to produce images from only one nine-hundredth the light. « more » Related Links: 3‑D images, with only one photon per pixel (MIT) Signal Transformation and…

Fibers Get Functional

Fibers Get Functional

Yoel Fink is re-inventing what it means to wear clothes that “work.” Fink, MIT Professor of Materials Science and Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics is bringing a completely new — and literal — definition to working fibers. His group is imagining and…

Scientists create never-before-seen form of matter

Scientists create never-before-seen form of matter

Harvard and MIT scientists are challenging the conventional wisdom about light, and they didn’t need to go to a galaxy far, far away to do it. « more » Related Links: Scientists create never-before-seen form of matter (Phys.org) Professor Vladan Vuletic…

Heldt and Sze join EECS Faculty

Heldt and Sze join EECS Faculty

Meet the newest members of the MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science faculty — Thomas Heldt, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering and Vivienne Sze, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering. « more » Related Links:…

New materials improve oxygen catalysis

New materials improve oxygen catalysis

Highly active catalysts could be key to improved energy storage in fuel cells and advanced batteries. « more » Related Links: New materials improve oxygen catalysis (MIT News) Professor Yang Shao-Horn Electrochemical Energy Group

Graphene could yield cheaper optical chips

Graphene could yield cheaper optical chips

Researchers show that graphene — atom-thick sheets of carbon — could be used in photodetectors, devices that translate optical signals to electrical. « more » Related Links: Graphene could yield cheaper optical chips (MIT News) Professor Dirk R. Englund…

RLE Remembers Professor Ken Stevens

RLE Remembers Professor Ken Stevens

RLE was saddened to hear the news of Ken Stevens passing. Professor Stevens was an important part of the RLE community, contributing many works to his field of research and inspiring many students, collaborators, and colleagues alike. He will be greatly missed.…

RLE Welcomes the 2013 M+Visión Fellows

RLE Welcomes the 2013 M+Visión Fellows

On Tuesday, September 3rd, the 2013 M+Visión Fellows arrived on MIT’s campus. A cohort of ten Fellows, exceptional talent from all over the world—engineers, physicians, scientists, and entrepreneurs who see the promise of biomedical imaging—will engage in structured…

An easier way to control genes

An easier way to control genes

New method for turning genes on and off could enable more complex synthetic biology circuits. « more » Related Links: An easier way to control genes (MIT News) Professor Timothy Lu

Should Time Travel Be A Moral Imperative?

Should Time Travel Be A Moral Imperative?

If time travel is possible should society be ethically obligated to try and reverse some of history’s worst crimes against humanity? That’s the question I posed to MIT quantum mechanic Seth Lloyd, who was part of a 2010 team that used quantum teleportation to send a…

Encryption is less secure than we thought

Encryption is less secure than we thought

For 65 years, most information-theoretic analyses of cryptographic systems have made a mathematical assumption that turns out to be wrong. « more » Related Links: Encryption is less secure than we thought (MIT News) Professor Muriel Medard

In it for the long run

In it for the long run

When Millie Dresselhaus won the prestigious Kavli Award last year, she put her money where her career has been. « more » Related Links: In it for the long run (MIT News) Professor Mildred Dresselhaus Professor Polina Anikeeva

Jeff Lang named for Vitesse Professorship

Jeff Lang named for Vitesse Professorship

Dept. Head Anantha Chandraksan has announced the appointment of Prof. Jeffrey H. Lang to the Vitesse Professorship in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, effective July 1, 2013. The Vitesse Chair was established in 2000 to honor the Vitesse Semiconductor…

A new way to trap light

A new way to trap light

MIT researchers discover a new phenomenon that could lead to new types of lasers and sensors. « more » Related Links: A new way to trap light Professor Marin Soljacic Professor John Joannopoulos Professor Steven Johnson

Researchers build an all-optical transistor

Researchers build an all-optical transistor

An optical switch that can be turned on by a single photon could point toward new designs for both classical and quantum computers. « more » Related Links: Researchers build an all-optical transistor Professor Vladan Vuletic Experimental Atomic Physics…

Holding the salt

Holding the salt

MIT graduate student David Cohen-Tanugi works to improve water filtration, desalination. « more » Related Links: Holding the salt (MIT News) Professor Jeffrey Grossman Grossman Group

Making Waves with Microfluidics

Making Waves with Microfluidics

Joel Voldman engineers cutting-edge approaches to stem cell signaling, point of care therapeutics, and neuroengineering. « more » Related Links: Making Waves with Microfluidics (MIT ILP) Professor Joel Voldman Biological Microtechnology and BioMEMS…

Professors take lessons from online teaching

Professors take lessons from online teaching

David E. Pritchard has dedicated his life to physics, conducting pioneering work in atom optics and mentoring Nobel Prize winners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But now Pritchard, whose aviator glasses and flyaway gray hair give him the look of the…

Solving a semiconductor riddle

Solving a semiconductor riddle

New observations of material disprove leading theory about LED brightness, opening new avenues for research. « more » Related Links: Solving a semiconductor riddle MIT-Harvard Center for Excitonics

Making quantum encryption practical

Making quantum encryption practical

Researchers in the Optical and Quantum Communications Group at MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) have experimentally demonstrated a new quantum communication protocol that solves two basic problems with achieving practical quantum encryption. «…

Making quantum encryption practical

Making quantum encryption practical

An MIT team that proposed a new, more-practical scheme for using quantum physics to secure data transmission has now demonstrated it experimentally. « more » Related Links: Making quantum encryption practical Professor Jeffrey Shapiro Dr. Franco…

3dim wins MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition

3dim wins MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition

On Wednesday night, 3dim earned the grand prize at this year’s MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition after successfully pitching its business plan to merge two of today’s most popular, and profitable, technological phenomena: gesture-recognition and smart devices.…

Cells as living calculators

Cells as living calculators

Using analog computation circuits, MIT engineers design cells that can compute logarithms, divide and take square roots. « more » Related Links: Cells as living calculators Prof. Rahul Sarpeshkar Analog Circuits and Biological Systems Group Prof. Timothy…

The “What If?” Whiz

The “What If?” Whiz

By asking that simple question for more than five decades, Institute Professor Millie Dresselhaus has pioneered nanoscience, launched a new field of energy research, and helped women find their place at MIT. « more » Related News: The “What If?” Whiz…

New solar-cell design based on dots and wires

New solar-cell design based on dots and wires

MIT researchers improve efficiency of quantum-dot photovoltaic system by adding a forest of nanowires. « more » Related Links: New solar-cell design based on dots and wires Professor Vladimir Bulovic RLE Organic and Nanostructured Electronics Set…

Phased Arrays: Nanophotonic array is CMOS-compatible

Phased Arrays: Nanophotonic array is CMOS-compatible

Using silicon fabrication technology, a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, MA) has taken a huge leap forward in the development of phased arrays of optical nanoantennas by creating a passive 64 × 64-element array on a millimeter-sized…

MIT researchers build Quad HD TV chip

MIT researchers build Quad HD TV chip

A new video standard enables a fourfold increase in the resolution of TV screens, and an MIT chip was the first to handle it in real time. « more » Related Links: MIT researchers build Quad HD TV chip Professor Anantha Chandrakasan Digital Integrated…

Picture-perfect

Picture-perfect

Quick, efficient chip cleans up common flaws in amateur photographs. « more » Related Links: Picture-perfect Professor Anantha Chandrakasan Digital Integrated Circuits and Systems Group

Research update: Imaging fish in 3‑D

Research update: Imaging fish in 3‑D

Automated system for high-speed analysis of vertebrate larvae could aid drug development. « more » Related Links: Research update: Imaging fish in 3‑D Professor Mehmet Yanik RLE High-Throughput Neurotechnology Group

2013 EECS Faculty Promotions Announced

2013 EECS Faculty Promotions Announced

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department Head Anantha Chandrakasan and Associate Department Heads Munther Dahleh and Bill Freeman announced the promotions of RLE Professors Karl Berggren, Jongyoon Han, Joel Voldman, and Lizhong Zheng to the rank of Full…

Toward practical compressed sensing

Toward practical compressed sensing

Researchers show how the vagaries of real-world circuitry affect the performance of a promising new technique in signal processing and imaging. « more » Related Links: Toward practical compressed sensing Professor Vladimir Stojanovic RLE Integrated…

Capturing energy from the sun

Capturing energy from the sun

MIT investigators are inspired by a deep-sea bacterium that is able to harvest tiny amounts of incoming solar energy with exquisite efficiency. « more » Related Links: Capturing energy from the sun MIT–Harvard Center for Excitonics

Chips that can steer light

Chips that can steer light

Record-setting ‘optical phased arrays’ could lead to better laser rangefinders, smaller medical-imaging devices and even holographic TVs. Related Links: Chips that can steer light Prof. Michael Watts RLE Photonic Microsystems Group

Guaranteed delivery — in ad hoc networks

Guaranteed delivery — in ad hoc networks

A new algorithm for message dissemination in decentralized networks is faster than its predecessors but, unlike them, guarantees delivery. « more » Related Links: Guaranteed delivery — in ad hoc networks EECS grad student Bernhard Haeupler wins best…

Ask A Quantum Mechanic: Seth Lloyd

Ask A Quantum Mechanic: Seth Lloyd

Did you know plants use quantum mechanics every day? That quantum computers can hack the encryption used in online commerce? Or that a ‘quantum internet’ could someday teleport your emails? MIT’s Seth Lloyd discusses those and other quantum mysteries in this episode…

Perreault elected as IEEE Fellow

Perreault elected as IEEE Fellow

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) has elected EECS professors Rodney Brooks and David Perreault to IEEE Fellow status. Professors Brooks and Perreault are among a class of 297 selected for the class of 2013 IEEE Fellows.  The IEEE grade of…