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jcmarchi · 11 months ago

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New transistor’s superlative properties could have broad electronics applications

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/new-transistors-superlative-properties-could-have-broad-electronics-applications/

New transistor’s superlative properties could have broad electronics applications

In 2021, a team led by MIT physicists reported creating a new ultrathin ferroelectric material, or one where positive and negative charges separate into different layers. At the time they noted the material’s potential for applications in computer memory and much more. Now the same core team and colleagues — including two from the lab next door — have built a transistor with that material and shown that its properties are so useful that it could change the world of electronics.

Although the team’s results are based on a single transistor in the lab, “in several aspects its properties already meet or exceed industry standards” for the ferroelectric transistors produced today, says Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, who led the work with professor of physics Raymond Ashoori. Both are also affiliated with the Materials Research Laboratory.

“In my lab we primarily do fundamental physics. This is one of the first, and perhaps most dramatic, examples of how very basic science has led to something that could have a major impact on applications,” Jarillo-Herrero says.

Says Ashoori, “When I think of my whole career in physics, this is the work that I think 10 to 20 years from now could change the world.”

Among the new transistor’s superlative properties:

It can switch between positive and negative charges — essentially the ones and zeros of digital information — at very high speeds, on nanosecond time scales. (A nanosecond is a billionth of a second.)

It is extremely tough. After 100 billion switches it still worked with no signs of degradation.

The material behind the magic is only billionths of a meter thick, one of the thinnest of its kind in the world. That, in turn, could allow for much denser computer memory storage. It could also lead to much more energy-efficient transistors because the voltage required for switching scales with material thickness. (Ultrathin equals ultralow voltages.)

The work is reported in a recent issue of Science. The co-first authors of the paper are Kenji Yasuda, now an assistant professor at Cornell University, and Evan Zalys-Geller, now at Atom Computing. Additional authors are Xirui Wang, an MIT graduate student in physics; Daniel Bennett and Efthimios Kaxiras of Harvard University; Suraj S. Cheema, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and an affiliate of the Research Laboratory of Electronics; and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi of the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan.

What they did

In a ferroelectric material, positive and negative charges spontaneously head to different sides, or poles. Upon the application of an external electric field, those charges switch sides, reversing the polarization. Switching the polarization can be used to encode digital information, and that information will be nonvolatile, or stable over time. It won’t change unless an electric field is applied. For a ferroelectric to have broad application to electronics, all of this needs to happen at room temperature.

The new ferroelectric material reported in Science in 2021 is based on atomically thin sheets of boron nitride that are stacked parallel to each other, a configuration that doesn’t exist in nature. In bulk boron nitride, the individual layers of boron nitride are instead rotated by 180 degrees.

It turns out that when an electric field is applied to this parallel stacked configuration, one layer of the new boron nitride material slides over the other, slightly changing the positions of the boron and nitrogen atoms. For example, imagine that each of your hands is composed of only one layer of cells. The new phenomenon is akin to pressing your hands together then slightly shifting one above the other.

“So the miracle is that by sliding the two layers a few angstroms, you end up with radically different electronics,” says Ashoori. The diameter of an atom is about 1 angstrom.

Another miracle: “nothing wears out in the sliding,” Ashoori continues. That’s why the new transistor could be switched 100 billion times without degrading. Compare that to the memory in a flash drive made with conventional materials. “Each time you write and erase a flash memory, you get some degradation,” says Ashoori. “Over time, it wears out, which means that you have to use some very sophisticated methods for distributing where you’re reading and writing on the chip.” The new material could make those steps obsolete.

A collaborative effort

Yasuda, the co-first author of the current Science paper, applauds the collaborations involved in the work. Among them, “we [Jarillo-Herrero’s team] made the material and, together with Ray [Ashoori] and [co-first author] Evan [Zalys-Geller], we measured its characteristics in detail. That was very exciting.” Says Ashoori, “many of the techniques in my lab just naturally applied to work that was going on in the lab next door. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Ashoori notes that “there’s a lot of interesting physics behind this” that could be explored. For example, “if you think about the two layers sliding past each other, where does that sliding start?” In addition, says Yasuda, could the ferroelectricity be triggered with something other than electricity, like an optical pulse? And is there a fundamental limit to the amount of switches the material can make?

Challenges remain. For example, the current way of producing the new ferroelectrics is difficult and not conducive to mass manufacturing. “We made a single transistor as a demonstration. If people could grow these materials on the wafer scale, we could create many, many more,” says Yasuda. He notes that different groups are already working to that end.

Concludes Ashoori, “There are a few problems. But if you solve them, this material fits in so many ways into potential future electronics. It’s very exciting.”

This work was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office, the MIT/Microsystems Technology Laboratories Samsung Semiconductor Research Fund, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Ramon Areces Foundation, the Basic Energy Sciences program of the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan.

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rotzaprachim · 8 months ago

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btw america has some kind of fucked cw supernatural esque view of the "working class" and who counts like it loves the idea of "small family businesses" and petit bourgeoisie small business owners at the same time it shits on all kinds of service sector jobs like mcdonalds fry guys and the pink-collar and often more highly educated jobs like teachers, nurses, and civil servants. (it does not like to do things to support small and medium sized businsses against mass corporations though - that would be bailouts and gov money!)

it also has a fundamentally whacko idea of "blue collar" professions like farmers, plumbers, and electrical engineers while remaining totally unaware of the fact that with modernity and rising technological advancement a lot of those jobs require more training and sketchy urban liberal college degrees and little computer things. and it totally ignores the undocumented mass labour force in the country.

like that's the thing about all these political back and forths about "the working class" and what it is and what jobs they contain- they're for an idea of america that never existed and certainly doesn't exist now

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matrixbearer2024 · 9 months ago

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I currently have two AUs that I don't exactly know what to do with or what to properly call them LMFAO- I'll probably write something on Ao3 for it eventually since there's a ton of BillFord and FiddStan in there but yeah-

1st AU: Timelord Stanford (Dr Who what if)

This case was inspired by an RP I had with someone's Bill Cipher on @gftimelord where the triangle starts to be on the mend with Stanford after their ruined past. This to me makes sense because the Doctor is inherently very lonely despite the savior god complex. In that AU where Ford is functionally immortal and Stan and Fidds both at some point die due to his complacency and arrogance— he searches for a companion that can actually keep up with him.

So when Bill visits him during one of those window hours set by the Theraprism, they talk about the triangle's impending demise with their plans to essentially erase him from existence. It's not an outlandish idea given that any inpatient seen as a lost cause would or could be disposed of when it comes to cosmic entities. It's simply the easier option.

The doctor(Ford) is more impulsive, nonchalant, and egoistic compared to his counterparts because he does have the walk to back his talk(this man has been broken by the nightmares and guilt he carries from the deaths he caused; also time war) problem being he doesn't fear death as much as he fears being alone. He's had a fair share of close calls with the grim reaper, but always like some horrible twist he survives. After all, it is a saying that we covet the most what we don't have.

So yeah, he jailbreaks Bill essentially and whatever power limiter is stuck on the triangle get tied to his sonic screwdriver instead and they simply go around the multiverse doing whatever. Most of the reason why Ford isn't caught yet largely has to do with how scared most entities are of him. The doctor is never armed, but it doesn't mean he won't kill.

2nd AU: Modern Era AU (Set in 2024)

This one is more of a shitpost thanks to the young trio I drew a little while back, I'll draw more of them for this at some point while I also try and figure out a decent human Bill design that I like in my artstyle.

But this AU heavily features these four idiots as Undergrad students fucking about college life as they would. This AU is supposed to feature like a more cultivated genius Stanley based around my own dynamic with my brother since I do like me some happy Stan twins.

It just so happens that Ford is also a very much EQ negative idiot and falls for an upperclassman(one year his senior) in BSSE[Software Engineering] who is a close friend to Fidds. He goes by 'Cipher' as an alias since he's a prodigy for his age and very young ethical hacker.

So yes, that's where Bill comes in. Haven't figured out what I want his full name to be yet shoot me some ideas! Ford is very shy when it comes down to talking with Bill whereas Stan is completely chill.

Both Stan and Bill get along very well in this AU because they're similarly chaotic the same way that Fidds and Ford get along because they're the ones holding the other two back from doing something undeniably stupid for shits and giggles.

All of them share some fundamental subjects together(i.e. Math, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, Research, History, etc.) or take elective courses just so they could chill together. Stan is typically the one who adjusts to the schedule of the other three since he takes BSBA[Business Administration] and is the odd one out when Ford does BSCMB[Cellular Molecular Biology] and Fidds does BSEE[Electrical Engineering].

The FiddleStan in this AU is gonna be c r a z y mostly due to Fidds in this AU is the heir to his family's computer company, so lowkey spoiled nepo baby but also on a very tight leash with his parents. Stan is the kid where 90% of his childhood was parents either forgot him or straight up did not give a flying fuck. So these two kinda work as complements and it's why I decided to pair them together after chatting with a friend about the group dynamics.

So yeah, simpy and adoring Ford and silently aware but shy Bill + rebellious Fidds and supportive Stan. All the more when I actually plan for this AU to have some typical gravity falls shenanigans anyway thanks to a place on earth called the Oregon Vortex.

[I'll likely make fics and comics of these AUs, reply to this post if you want to be tagged for whenever I post something]

Yeah I need to properly name these AUs.

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catenary-chad · 15 days ago

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Robots, Talking Trains, and Electra

~4k words

This is a weird and invisible issue but deceptively important when talking about machines in media because it’s such a widespread and quiet misunderstanding. And it actually has a considerable impact on how electric trains are depicted (or not), especially in Starlight Express since it’s one of the rare pieces of fictional media where they’re more than a token in the cast. Electric trains are rarely treated as trains with faces vs robot stereotypes that actual electric trains are uniquely unsuited to.

I sound completely unhinged saying this, but sci-fi media robots and talking trains are at opposite ends of a spectrum. One is theoretical and about artificial life that’s basically human with superficial mechanical traits to dehumanize them. It has very specific origins in literature. The other is far more practical and about projecting human traits on actual machinery to humanize them. It’s decentralized and bottom-up, coming from general human tendency to look for patterns and anthropomorphize things.

Fair warning that this gets into non-graphic but weirdly heavy themes of slavery and fascism because they’re fundamental to robot tropes and how they’re the opposite of talking trains. The latter is also relevant to how Thomas the Tank Engine fanfiction portrays the British Rail Modernization Plan, which I’m almost certain Starlight Express’ “steam oppression” is a shoddy ahistorical knockoff of. Yes this is full of “brand new sentences” because involves things almost nobody takes seriously or consciously thinks about in general.

I think a major reason why people don’t “get” Thomas the Tank Engine and other talking train media and tend to automatically go to slavery comparisons and how hellish it would be to be a train is that they apply robot themes to talking trains. Talking trains have become far more niche compared to the media prevalence of robot tropes. It sounds reasonable on the surface to conflate the two if you aren’t familiar with how thematically opposite they are and how different their origins were.

Other anthropomorphized vehicles have similar origins but are seen as freer and easier to make sentient. People also tend to have at least basic technical understand of them that they don’t with trains. I don’t discuss them here because I’m not into them and they aren’t relevant to Stex.

ROBOTS

The term “robot” has a very specific origin in Rossum’s Universal Robots (R.U.R.), a Czech play from the 1920s. It came directly from a term for forced labor and broadly applies to “artificial life”, that is often but not necessarily mechanical, especially in its original context. The original robots were made of flesh made in a factory, and more descended from Frankenstein conceptually. The broader “artificial” aspect of this term is also why it’s widely applied to computer programs.

If you listen to R.U.R. (widely available on youtube), you’ll see how it invented so many modern robot tropes. Artificial humans created as slave labor, debates over how human they actually are, robots “passing” as human, the robots having a mind of their own but having no creativity or originality, revolting, and taking over and replacing humanity. War with the Newts by the same author is thematically similar, but with child-sized salamanders that are basically terrestrial aliens doing about the same thing. It goes from more resembling slavery and colonialism to the Newts becoming a parody of Germany at the time and mocks basically all of western Europe in various ways. It’s a fascinating example of how the original “robot” concept was barely about machines vs dehumanization.

Sci-fi robots are largely detached from technical reality and very much reflect human issues. They’re a standin for Otherness with machine traits stuck on to dehumanize the subjects in a way audiences will buy into. They’re an acceptable “slave class” and alien invader out to destroy society. They often resemble discussions around race with the aspect of “passing” and “truly being human”. They often resemble fears around immigration with “they will take over and replace us”. People thinking these tropes are about actual machines leads to widespread misconceptions and overestimating how much technology can do in general. As a visible modern example, they’ve been inspiring people to funnel billions into generative AI at terrible human and environmental cost, overestimating its intelligence and genuinely fearing robot rebellion and revenge. I have coworkers who genuinely believe this. This is literally the plot of a play from 1921.

Honestly, I was never very into media robots because they’re rarely ever about actual technology and its actual issues, especially on the mechanical end. One interesting exception is Runaway (1984), which on the surface is a “killer robot” movie, but the robots are utilitarian machines gone haywire due to a criminal putting defective chips in them. More akin to Therac-25 than anything, and the movie is less sci-fi and more just modern reality with a very 80s aesthetic. Its predictions were impressively accurate. It’s jokingly referred to as the “Anti-Blade Runner” because it’s about cops chasing down runaway robots… that are completely non-humanoid and akin to knife-wielding Roombas or overgrown VCRs with guns. Their humanity is not a plot element, they’re explicitly puppets of human programming, shown and talked about in technical terms, and don’t have minds of their own. They’re drones and smart appliances used as weapons.

It’s a more “blue collar” approach that specific audiences love because they recognize that robot media isn’t about actual, real-life “robots”. But you know what IS more literal about mechanical reality?

TALKING TRAINS

People have stuck faces on trains and projected personalities on them basically as long as they’ve existed. It’s just something workers will casually do with heavy machinery as a form of endearment or explaining technical concepts to people. Companies and everyday people casually do it. It’s widespread in political cartoons, songs, and children’s books. There’s absurd memes about them. Anthropomorphizing things and looking for faces in inanimate objects is just something pattern-seeking brains do in general.

It’s broadly agreed upon that trains are kind of like horses. They may have a “mind of their own”(or seem to) but can be controlled and ridden by others. They depend on human care and have a vested interest in not overthrowing society and killing them all. They aren’t physically human, wouldn’t be confused for such, and don’t really have any desire to be. They could easily and accidentally kill you no matter how much you love them (due to sheer scale), but don’t have much in terms of deliberate murderous intent. They aren’t going to replace you because they do jobs you are unsuited to and vice versa. They are endearing and relatable and meant to get emotionally attached to.

The way trains are characterized on a casual basis is wildly inconsistent and is somewhere between a horse, a spouse, a child, a coworker, or an employee customers interface with. It varies wildly on context depending on which is most accurate or funny. It’s usually done with a sense of endearment and relatability. When you stick visually human features on trains they tend to lean more heavily into standins for children or workers. Most talking train media, especially in the present day, is explicitly child-oriented and takes the parent/child route with the trains and rail employees. This is done to relate to small children. It is unrelated to how slaves were infantilized to justify their treatment.

For the “worker” context, I’m going to directly use the Railway Series (and earlier Thomas the Tank Engine, which is based on it) as an example since it’s notoriously technical and mature for being picture books about talking trains. It was written by an author familiar with both model trains (which often have extensive lore behind them and some kind of justification for everything, like the RWS) and actual steam engine operations. It’s a fairly realistic depiction of early 20th century British rail operations with faces stuck on. The RWS is beloved by a surprising number of rail employees and is credited for getting a lot of people into the line of work. While written in the parent/child paradigm, adult fans tend to see it as a workplace drama because the trains are so authentically bitchy and mean and weirdly relatable to many rail employees. Even just volunteering at a train museum maintenance shop will really make this obvious.

While there is the background of trains being owned and technically treated akin to animals, this is almost never how talking train media is framed or intended. At worst, it’s more based on Victorian-early 20th century working conditions where you work for the company most of your life and the company owns everything in town and parodies abusive practices by employers and workers going on strike (this is a thing in the RWS). You could say that this sanitizes what was often a horrible era (and jobs) for employees, mining and heavy industry being prominent examples. This is a more explicit issue with railfans and model trains, but something that feeds into mainstream conservatism to stupid economic results like the US steel tariffs (via ignoring WHY regulations and labor reforms existed and treating coal and steel as the only industries that matter and must be promoted and protected at all costs). It does vaguely parallel how Jim Crow stereotyping and historical revisionism were used to sanitize the brutality of chattel slavery…. but these were done for very different reasons and populations and have very different present-day impacts.

Something very telling about talking trains is that they’re usually demographically neutral or implied to be white/otherwise the majority population. If they’re demonized they’re usually totally inhuman monsters or dragons. You only get more explicit ethnic diversity in modern shows, usually a token Japanese train to appeal to that audience or an African train who’s a safari guide. For how the “Golden Age” of US train travel overlapped with the Jim Crow era, I don’t think I’ve even seen minstrel stereotypes applied to trains themselves. It’s relieving but also surprising the more I think about it, with how easily the “sanitizing horrific working conditions” angle translates and how the most prominent negative aspects of steam engines (dirty, primitive, slow and “lazy” to get going) are VERY well known anti-Black stereotypes. The fact hardly anyone acknowledges this glaring issue with “steam oppression” as presented with Stex is also telling. It’s something so non-existent in talking trains and thematically opposite that you don’t think about it despite how obvious it is. It also helps that the Railway Series was British and “steam oppression” in it (and so, so many fanfics based on it) was based on the 60s-era Modernization Plan and more resembles the Holocaust. In a very different way, it’s also a great example of how talking trains are the antithesis of the original robot tropes, since it’s sympathetic towards something dehumanized and destroyed en masse in industrial ways.

TRAINS VS ROBOTS IN STARLIGHT EXPRESS

To start off: the reputation for the show being a “government job” in theater for its relative stability and requiring specific skill sets learned on-the-job answers the question of the trains’ employment status. It’s weirdly similar to actual railroad jobs and thus they are employees. See the previous paragraph for why I run from any mention of livestock comparisons or “ownership”. This seems to have been somewhat prevalent in the fandom several years ago which is… concerning and I hope they were European or something and genuinely didn’t know.

The funny thing about Starlight Express is that combustion engines are blatantly written as talking trains. They are largely based on train traits and more relatable and human. Greaseball is horrible in extremely accurate ways for a diesel engine in the US (link). The steam engines check off all the romanticized media cliches about them (their negative traits are heavily whitewashed because that would harpoon their entire framing). I linked it at the beginning of the post but see here for most of my issues with steam engines in the show and broader media.

Non-powered train cars are often treated as non-entities or generic troublemakers and Stex is a rare example of them actually being given individual personality (and they’re generally funny and clever).

Electric trains are treated as various shades of robot.

The Nationals are easy to explain. They’re national stereotypes with train heads stuck on. This has direct parallels in R.U.R., where national robots in different colors in perpetual war with each other were a thing. It also exists in War With the Newts, where rival factions among Newts are created by humans to turn them against themselves (and promote arms sales). Rail is a very nationalistic industry in general and it was probably more written with that intent, it’s just funny that the Nationals are basically all electric and presented so 1:1 with an aspect of R.U.R. that isn’t used as much today.

Electra is weird because he’s kind of a 50/50. Electra, especially in the workshop, takes a lot from media robot stereotypes of being a soulless non-entity set on world domination and is fascist-coded in a futurist, Thin White Duke kind of way. But is also one of the only fictional electric trains who is just a normal electric train AND specifically references electric train-specific traits. This is genuinely very rare, there were basically none in the Railway Series and at best they’re tokenized high speed trains and often batterywashed with little regard for the practical realities, versatility, and unique traits of electric trains. Train media will go out of its way to have nuclear powered trains, maglevs, or sci fi things with no basis in reality and exclude regular, direct electric trains at all costs (especially overhead powered, you see a few that are third rail). Electric trains fall into a no man’s land of being spooky and futuristic in the Anglophone world and seen as unattainable… but also established and supremely boring and functionally invisible, often associated with menial commuter trains and subways and government bureaucracy dragging on projects for years.

There’s an attempt to make Electra the more fascist, world-dominating robot…. but the reality of electric trains and their treatment in media is more the “dehumanized designated servant class” and projecting the “robot” image on a talking train who SHOULD be as “human” as the others has fascinating implications. The image of electric trains as this sci fi robot/computer overlord and association with tech bros and electric cars is painfully omnipresent among railfans who don’t care about them. This is a real life example of unfounded and offensive specific media stereotypes blocking out the rich, messy history and real problems of a group in the public consciousness. That you and much of the audience in the US and UK probably accept uncritically in ways you never would stereotypes of real minorities. It’s genuinely hard to find English-language info on how electric trains work and their history without deliberately digging for it under a deluge of gadgetbahn hype trying to reinvent them in crappier ways.

Part of why I’m so attached to and defensive of Electra is that they’re like the Dr. Frank N Furter of electric trains. Offensively stereotyped in a lot of ways, but such a rare actual representation of them (that uses a number of real traits of them). One of the most notorious facts about Stex is “this electric train song is a very 70s bi double entendre” and that song also directly references overhead wires and differences in current and frequency between lines, which is a very real train problem few know about (more on that HERE)

If Electra was anything but a train, I’d actually love the workshop concept since it plays on a lot of underrated approaches to fascism coding that are INCREDIBLY ahead of their time and relevant today with how major products of robot tropes’ influence like “AI” and Silicon Valley technofascism have reared their ugly head so hard in the last couple years. The Thin White Duke and Station to Station are very ahead of their time reflecting isolation leading young men to fascist tendencies. It would be a very dark and elegant concept…. if electric trains weren’t the worst thing possible to use for this in terms of real-life history and impact.

Electric trains are deeply unappealing to tech bros, it’s a running gag they constantly try to reinvent bad imitations of them and Musk notoriously hates them. They’re an old, proven, “boring” technology that is slow, careful, and the domain of government projects vs private companies. There’s little point in making them automatic or autonomous, the cost of drivers is small vs the cost of the tech and infrastructure needed for it. Computerization was mainly used to make motors more efficient, reduce wheelslip, and generally optimize mundane train things. Rail is notoriously hostile to startups because of how untuitive and unfamiliar its requirements are. Tech improvements just make trains safer and more efficient and are slow to implement due to the scale and ruggedness involved.

Electric trains are a terrible application for the “science has gone too far” aspect of robots in general because they’re such an old and unequivocally good thing that a lot of people wildly underestimate the value of. They’re wildly efficient and genuinely OP vs combustion trains due to their external power supply and have spectacular performance (overshadowed by fixation on speed and environmental impact alone, they have a long history in heavy freight too). They displace car and plane travel when implemented, they’re not just gilding the lily of general train efficiency. Trains were one of the first uses of electrical power and trolleys were VERY much welcome with how unpleasant dealing with steam engines and horses in cities was. Electric trains have far more in common technologically with elevators and substations and were only computerized in the very late 80s-early 90s because trains are notoriously technologically conservative due to their rugged environment and high reliability needs. In short, electric trains are the antithesis of “Apple/Tesla futurism” and negative impact of technology. NOT modernizing is a much bigger problem in rail in both the US and Europe.

Politically, trains in general today are more strongly related to connection and class/race mixing, vs the individualism, isolationism, and elitism of automobiles (which is present and historic almost worldwide). Electrification is especially associated with liberal cities and countries (like France) and has egalitarian leanings with how it’s so suited to commuter trains, trams, and subways. Even projects intended to help the wealthy tend to create economies of scale to more readily electrify other areas and end up used by common people too (Caltrain and the TGVs). Again, the opposite of how tech billionaires encourages isolation, right-wing extremism, and income inequality.

Historically, rail electrification is heavily aligned with big governments and willingness to invest in infrastructure, even moreso than non-electrified rail. Most of western Europe was branching out into electrification pre-WWII and how much they did was more based on availability of fossil fuels than anything. Switzerland is almost completely electrified because they have tons of hydropower and no domestic supply of fossil fuels. The UK was often far behind outside of the commuter-heavy south that required it, due to heavy domestic coal industry. Nazi Germany’s most visible train symbol are the steam kriegsloks, mass produced, sometimes by forced labor. The number of class 42s and 52s is almost ten times the number of total electric locomotives that existed there pre-war.

And when you look at how the steam-electric transition actually went in France, Germany, and even the Pennsylvania Railroad… it was almost ridiculously peaceful, with steam engines just not produced anymore and as lines were electrified, they were just moved elsewhere to replace steam engines that retired at their intended lifespan. This is why British Rail was making steam engines so late with the original intent to run them into the 80s before they decided to dieselize in the 60s as a stopgap (that never really left). Dieselization is what causes the dramatic mass-scrapping, you can even apply this to busses replacing trolleys in the US (which have even more dramatic photos of being stacked and burned). Electrification is an incredibly slow process even when done well. It’s like your job being automated out of existence… in 30 years, and they won’t fire anyone, just stop hiring and let people retire at their own pace and retrain as needed to fill their spots as jobs are automated.

I get the temptation to make something heavily associated with Siemens a Nazi stand-in killing sympathetic characters in coldly industrial ways, but it’s patently ahistorical on every level.

Anyways, Electra epitomizes the paradox of electric trains. They’re just so effective and taken for granted they become invisible like household appliances (and the broader power grid in general) that people rarely characterize them based on their actual history and traits because they don’t know them. Thus the robot paradigm, which has overshadowed the actual history of rail electrification in the English-speaking world.

Hm. Steam engines treated as sympathetic and relatable, while electric trains are Othered and portrayed as specific media stereotypes based on slavery and inhumanity while virtually erasing the messy and weird history of actual electric trains? This is why I think the original workshop got things backwards and shouldn’t be returned to, Rusty and Electra being raceswapped is one of the most meaningful things the show ever did. Rusty as an insufferable straight white boy epitomizing sanitized cliches about the bad old days “oppressed” by… legitimate safety and environmental regulations that exist for good reason. Electra being a Black celebrity with massive influence and relative obscurity (like Jeffrey Daniel outside the UK) or massive stereotyping and misunderstanding by the media like… pick any of them really, but Michael Jackson is particularly interesting in hindsight given just how bizarre tabloid treatment got. The element of being downplayed and defined by ugly, repetitive media stereotypes that virtually erase his real history works with both African and Black American history. Electra works as almost any minority in some way, they’re just particularly effective in a US context when Black and it’s why I tend to favor that.

I go on about it in a lot of esoteric ways, but the treatment of electric trains in Anglophone media makes them SO effective and relevant in all the social metaphors “steam oppression” fails spectacularly in. Because most of the audience probably thinks of electric trains as robots and doesn’t know much of anything about them and their history. That’s why I get so obstinate about portraying them semi-realistically in my work and get so revisionist about them. Because it’s such a FASCINATING meta narrative that ties into human and train problems (and a lot of massive, invisible infrastructure issues and history that most people don’t know or care about). Yes this has sent me on the rabbit hole of making lost empires based on Hamilton-fied electric lines of the US, especially with how many left behind “mysterious monuments” in the form of weird old catenary masts.

If you made it to the end and aren’t familiar with this stuff from my other posts:

here’s the best English-language source on how electric trains work and some of the history/economics behind them in the UK. It gets too technical for most later on but the first couple chapters cover a lot of important stuff well.

US electrification history is a nightmare to research unless you can get William Middleton’s When the Steam Railroads Electrified. PAN UP on youtube has some videos that summarize a lot of it, mostly the northeastern lines. Otherwise wikipedia is your friend.

#stex #starlight express #this is all a long way to say: MJ Train Electra is way deeper than you think in deeply weird and unspoken ways #and “robot” has much weirder and more specific origins than you may think #electric trains being portrayed as robots by people who don’t interface with them is a kid-friendly analogy for minstrel stereotypes #(that sounds unhinged until you actually look at the history of both. They are eerily parallel yet mutually exclusive)

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sngl-led-auto-lights · 20 days ago

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How do Teslas manage power differently from traditional cars, especially regarding overnight features like headlights?

Teslas manage power fundamentally differently from traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars—especially for "always-on" features like headlights—through architectural differences in their electrical systems, intelligent power management, and energy source prioritization. Here’s how they do it:

⚡ 1. Core Power Architecture Differences Component Traditional ICE Car Tesla

Primary Energy Source Alternator (belt-driven) recharges the 12V battery High-voltage (400V) battery pack → powers everything 12V System Power Source Lead-acid battery (depletes quickly) DC-DC converter taps HV pack to charge 12V lithium battery Headlights/Electronics Run only off 12V battery → drains in hours Prioritized LV loads → HV pack replenishes 12V as needed

🔋 2. Overnight Power Management

Teslas avoid dead batteries via layered power optimization: Deep Sleep Mode:

After 15-30 mins idle, Tesla shuts down non-essential systems (sentry mode, infotainment), cutting power draw to ~10-50W (vs. 200W+ in ICE idling).

Adaptive 12V Charging:

The DC-DC converter tops up the 12V battery only when its voltage drops → minimizes HV pack cycles.

Lithium 12V Battery (2021+ models):

Replaced lead-acid → 4x longer lifespan, faster charging, lighter weight.

Example: Headlights Left On ICE Car: Drains 12V battery in ~4-8 hours (500W draw).

Tesla:

Headlights auto-shutoff after delay (or via app).

If left on: HV pack feeds DC-DC converter → powers lights for days (~0.1% HV pack loss/hour).

🌙 3. Tesla-Specific "Overnight" Features Feature Power Source ICE Equivalent

Sentry Mode HV pack → 12V system (~200W) N/A – ICE battery dies fast Climate Keep HV pack → heat pump (1-3kW) Engine must idle (1-2L fuel/hr) Software Updates HV pack → compute (300W+) Drains 12V battery rapidly

HV battery sustains all features without idling an engine.

🔧 4. Real-World Efficiency Data Vampire Drain:

Tesla loses ~1-2% battery/day with sentry/climate off.

ICE cars lose 0.5–1L/day in fuel to keep 12V alive during shipping/storage.

Headlight Overnight Draw:

Tesla LED headlights: ~50W total.

ICE halogen headlights: 110W+.

⚠️ Why Tesla’s System Wins No Parasitic Losses: No alternator constantly burning fuel to charge a 12V system.

Energy Scale: Tapping a 75kWh HV pack for 12V loads is like "using an ocean to fill a bathtub."

Predictive Shutdown: Tesla sleeps deeply unless explicitly woken (via app or key).

🛠️ Edge Cases & Fail-Safes 12V Battery Failure:

Tesla alerts drivers weeks in advance → DC-DC converter keeps it charged proactively. HV Pack Depletion:

If HV pack hits 0%, the car uses reserve energy to boot critical systems for recovery. Frozen Temperatures:

HV pack self-heats to maintain efficiency (ICE batteries struggle below -10°C).

Bottom Line: Teslas treat electricity like a data network—intelligently routed, prioritized, and scalable—while ICE cars rely on wasteful "always-on" generation. This allows features like headlights, sentry mode, and climate control to run indefinitely overnight without stranding the driver. 🔋💡

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fortunesky-tech · 10 days ago

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Revolutionizing Wire Harness Production with Automated Crimping Technology

The modern manufacturing landscape increasingly hinges on automation to boost both efficiency and accuracy. A standout innovation driving this transformation is the advent of automatic wire cutting and crimping machines. These sophisticated systems offer a host of compelling advantages, fundamentally reshaping the way wire harnesses are produced.

At the core of these machines' appeal is their ability to combine blazing-fast operation with a remarkably streamlined wire changeover process. Unlike older, more labor-intensive methods, these automated solutions harness cutting-edge Computer Numerical Control (CNC) technology. This allows for precise, computer-managed adjustments to both the leading and trailing wire ends, eliminating the need for tedious manual tweaks to cutting and stripping lengths. What's more, the integration of electrically controlled blades drastically simplifies the engineering challenges typically associated with adapting to different wire specifications. This built-in flexibility enables swift transitions between various wire types and dimensions, a critical factor in maximizing production agility and minimizing costly downtime.

Precision and Efficiency Through Digital Control

The operational backbone of automatic wire cutting and crimping machines lies in a fully digital and mathematically driven control system. Every crucial parameter—from cutting and stripping lengths to blade values, semi-stripping settings, and terminal crimping specifications—can be precisely configured via an intuitive interface. This comprehensive digital mastery, particularly the electrically adjustable blades, not only supercharges production efficiency but also positions these machines at the forefront of automation compared to other models. For instance, single-head automatic wire crimping machines are adept at handling multiple tasks: wire cutting, single-end stripping, double-end stripping, and single-end crimping, all executed with remarkable speed, stability, and intelligence. Their touchscreen interface further refines the setup experience, making all adjustments fully digitized and straightforward.

Workforce Optimization and Cost Savings

The advanced automation inherent in these machines empowers manufacturers to optimize their workforce deployment. By taking over repetitive and intricate tasks, these systems free up human capital, allowing employees to focus on more strategic, value-added activities. This shift often translates into significant reductions in overall operational costs. Another key benefit is the modular design of these machines. Their reliance on standardized components not only simplifies initial setup but also dramatically cuts down on ongoing maintenance expenses, thanks to readily available and easily replaceable parts. Equipped with cutting-edge electrical controls and proprietary software, these machines boast a highly user-friendly Human-Machine Interface (HMI). This accessibility means that even operators with minimal specialized training can efficiently manage complex wire processing, including wire and terminal changes, effectively "democratizing" the operation of such sophisticated equipment.

Conclusion

In essence, automatic wire cutting and crimping machines represent a monumental leap forward in manufacturing technology. Their synergy of high-speed performance, CNC-driven precision, electrically controlled blades, and intuitive digital interfaces offers compelling advantages over traditional approaches. These machines stand out across various categories of terminal equipment and have secured widespread adoption in today's market, garnering widespread acclaim from users for their innovative design and robust performance.

For in-depth technical resources on automatic terminal crimping machines, explore our specialized page.

#wireharness #wireprocessing #cableassembly

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trivalentlinks · 1 month ago

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so many people hate math but people generally seem to like physics (at least based on responses i got when telling people that I was a math/physics major--i eventually just told people I was a physics major to avoid the "oh, ew, I hate math" response),

this is probably because everyone was forced to learn math for years in school, but most people had only one year of required physics in school, if that

but i'm low key kind of convinced that this is misplaced, because it's actually physics's fault that you had to learn so much math in school

like the math that people struggle the most with, things like trig and conic sections and graphing equations and functions, the things where you have to connect algebraic notions to geometric ones, these things aren't taught in school because math enjoyers love them on principle

(though as a topologist, i do love connecting algebraic notions to geometric ones on principle!)

they're being taught because they're so fundamental to physics (and to mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering, but only because those fields rely on physics, which relies on these mathematical concepts)

like you're only being taught these math concepts you hate so much because *physics* is *like that*

(computer science and statistics are also *like that*, what with things like DFT and distributions and such, but the school math curriculum was designed long before computer science and statistics gained such prominence)

(one could also argue that kids are taught math because medical schools require A's in calculus, but I'm low key convinced that this is circular reasoning in that medical schools probably only require A's in calculus because kids are taught math in school, and the A in calculus signals that you actually went to school and paid attention)

(but then your physics teachers get to show you these fun demonstrations and get all the credit while relying on the years of plodding and painstaking work your math teachers have done)

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 2 months ago

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NSF-funded research heads to the international space station on NASA's SpaceX CRS-32 mission

ISS national lab-sponsored investigations aim to enhance drug manufacturing and develop new materials for aerospace, defense, energy, and robotics

Three investigations funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and sponsored by the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) National Laboratory are launching on SpaceX’s 32nd Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission, contracted by NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration. These experiments leverage the microgravityThe condition of perceived weightlessness created when an object is in free fall, for example when an object is in orbital motion. Microgravity alters many observable phenomena within the physical and life sciences, allowing scientists to study things in ways not possible on Earth. The International Space Station provides access to a persistent microgravity environment. environment to advance fundamental science that could lead to improved pharmaceutical manufacturing, new materials with valuable industrial applications, and the next generation of soft active materials with lifelike properties.

These projects build on a strong, multi-year collaboration between the ISS National Lab and NSF, which allocates millions of dollars to space-based projects within the fields of tissue engineering and transport phenomena, including fluid dynamics. To date, more than 30 projects funded by NSF and sponsored by the ISS National Lab have launched to the orbiting laboratory, with nearly 70 additional projects preparing for flight. Below are details about the three NSF-funded investigations launching on NASA’s SpaceX CRS-32.

Improving Medicine Manufacturing

An investigation by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), supported by Tec-Masters, builds on previous research to examine protein fluid flow and clumping—a problem that occurs during manufacturing of protein-based pharmaceuticals that affects the quality of the drug.

“Proteins are used to make various therapies and must be concentrated in medicines to avoid needing to administer large amounts of fluid,” says Amir Hirsa, professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at RPI. “But above a certain concentration, the proteins tend to form aggregates or clump.”

On Earth, studying protein behavior is complicated by interactions between the solution and the container used to hold it. But on the ISS, researchers can use the Ring-Sheared Drop module to form liquid into a self-contained sphere held between two rings.

Hirsa and his team can use this device to study protein motion and create more accurate models of the factors that lead to clumping, especially during drug manufacturing and dispensation to patients. The team also can test computer models that predict the behavior of proteins of vastly different concentrations and types, such as hormones and antibodies. Findings from this research could help uncover ways to avoid or reverse protein clumping, which would have a significant impact on the pharmaceutical industry.

“Another very important aspect of this work is making this data, which is so difficult to get, available to other scientists through open data repositories,” says Joe Adam, a research scientist at RPI. “Other scientists may see something even more interesting than we do.”

Developing New Materials

An investigation from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, supported by Leidos, will examine the formation of ceramic composites, which have valuable applications in several industries, including aerospace, defense, and energy. The study focuses on polymer-derived titanium carbide and silicon carbide composites that have electrical conductivity, are stable at high temperature, can be made into almost any shape and size, and are lightweight yet strong.

“These materials can be used in different extreme conditions, such as high temperatures and highly acidic or oxidative environments, where other materials become unstable or cannot survive,” says Kathy Lu, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.

Studying these composites in microgravity could reveal unique behaviors that cannot be replicated on Earth. Findings from this research could inform new techniques for ground- and space-based manufacturing of materials with specific properties for applications such as heat exchangers, electric systems, energy storage, electrodes, and microsystems.

“Nobody has studied microgravity’s effects on these ceramics, and the results could be helpful for the broader family of ceramics and other possible additives, such as fibers and nanoscale materials,” Lu says.

Studying Active Matter

A research team at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) will leverage microgravity to study active matter—microscopic particles that use energy to produce motion—and its effects on the separation of non-mixable liquids. These liquids, such as oil and water, separate into concentrated droplets of one substance dispersed in the other, a phenomenon known as active liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). This investigation, supported by Redwire Space Technologies, seeks a better understanding of active LLPS, which plays a key role in physics, materials science, engineering, and biology.

“Active fluids are made of billions of small molecular motors that push and pull on each other and generate a turbulent flow, like a windy day stirs the water on a beach,” says UCSB professor Zvonimir Dogic. “A long-term goal is using active matter in microfluidic devices to stir and control the separation of two substances. We’re trying to create simplified systems that start to mimic biology.”

Active LLPS could be used to create materials with lifelike properties, such as the ability to move, change shape, and self-repair, that could be used to develop more lifelike robotics.

SpaceX CRS-32 is scheduled to launch no earlier than April 21, 2025, at 4:15 a.m., from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

IMAGE: Left: A drop of protein solution less than two and a half centimeters in diameter formed in the RSD onboard the International Space Station. Right: An image showing a computed Newtonian flow diagram for the drop. Credit J. Adam

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #astrophysics

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xtruss · 4 months ago

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Engineers Achieve Multiplexing Entanglement In Quantum Network

— By California Institute of Technology | February 26th, 2025

Schematic of a Quantum Network Link Based on Multiple 171Yb Qubits in Nanophotonic Cavities. Credit: Nature (2025).

Laying the groundwork for quantum communication systems of the future, engineers at Caltech have demonstrated the successful operation of a quantum network of two nodes, each containing multiple quantum bits, or qubits—the fundamental information-storing building blocks of quantum computers.

To achieve this, the researchers developed a new protocol for distributing quantum information in a parallel manner, effectively creating multiple channels for sending data, or multiplexing. The work was accomplished by embedding ytterbium atoms inside crystals and coupling them to optical cavities—nanoscale structures that capture and guide light. This platform has unique properties that make it ideal for using multiple qubits to transmit quantum information-carrying photons in parallel.

"This is the first-ever demonstration of entanglement multiplexing in a quantum network of individual spin qubits," says Andrei Faraon (BS '04), the William L. Valentine Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at Caltech. "This method significantly boosts quantum communication rates between nodes, representing a major leap in the field."

The work is described in a paper published on February 26 in the journal Nature. The lead authors of the paper are Andrei Ruskuc (Ph.D. '24), now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, and Chun-Ju Wu, a graduate student at Caltech, who completed the work in Faraon's lab.

Just as the internet connects with the classical computers we are accustomed to using today, the quantum networks of the future will connect quantum computers that exist in different physical locations.

When working with the quantum realm, researchers are dealing with the miniscule scale of individual atoms and of photons, the basic particles of light. At this scale, matter does not behave according to classical physics; instead, quantum mechanics are at play.

One of the most important and bizarre concepts in quantum mechanics is that of entanglement, where two or more objects such as atoms or photons are inextricably linked regardless of their physical separation. This connection is so fundamental, that one particle cannot be fully described without reference to the other. As a result, measuring the quantum state of one also provides information about the other, which is key to quantum communication.

In quantum communication, the goal is to use entangled atoms as qubits to share, or teleport, quantum information. The key challenge that has thus far limited communication rates is the time it takes to prepare qubits and to transmit photons.

"Entanglement multiplexing overcomes this bottleneck by using multiple qubits per processor, or node. By preparing qubits and transmitting photons simultaneously, the entanglement rate can be scaled proportionally to the number of qubits," says Ruskuc.

In the new system, the two nodes are nanofabricated structures made from crystals of yttrium orthovanadate (YVO4). Lasers are used to excite ytterbium atoms (Yb3+), a rare-earth metal, within these crystals, causing each atom to emit a photon that remains entangled with it. Photons from atoms in two separate nodes then travel to a central location where they are detected. That detection process triggers a quantum processing protocol that leads to the creation of entangled states between pairs of ytterbium atoms.

Each node has many ytterbium atoms within the YVO4 crystal, so there are plenty of available qubits. However, each of those atoms has a slightly different optical frequency caused by imperfections within the crystal.

"This is like a double-edged sword," Ruskuc says. On one hand, the differing frequencies allow the researchers to fine-tune their lasers to target specific atoms. On the other, scientists previously believed that the corresponding differences in photon frequencies would make it impossible to generate entangled qubit states.

"That's where our protocol comes in. It is an innovative way to generate entangled states of atoms even when their optical transitions are different," Ruskuc says.

In the new protocol, the atoms undergo a kind of tailored quantum processing in real time once the photons are detected at the central location. The researchers call this processing "quantum feed-forward control."

"Basically, our protocol takes this information that it received from the photon arrival time and applies a quantum circuit: a series of logic gates that are tailored to the two qubits. And after we've applied this circuit, we are left with an entangled state," Ruskuc explains.

The team's YVO4 platform can accommodate many qubits—in this work, each node contained approximately 20. "But it may be possible to increase that number by at least an order of magnitude," says co-author Wu.

"The unique properties of rare-earth ions combined with our demonstrated protocol pave the way for networks with hundreds of qubits per node," Faraon says. "We believe this work lays a robust foundation for high-performance quantum communication systems based on rare-earth ions."

Additional Caltech authors of the paper, "Multiplexed Entanglement of Multi-emitter Quantum Network Nodes," are graduate student Emanuel Green; AWS Quantum Postdoctoral Scholar Research Associate Sophie L. N. Hermans; graduate student William Pajak; and Joonhee Choi of Stanford University, a former postdoctoral scholar from Faraon's lab. Device nanofabrication was performed in the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech.

#California Institute of Technology #Physics #Quantum Physics #Engineers #Entanglement #Quantum Network #Journal Information

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coursesfe · 5 months ago

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How to Pass the FE Electrical and Computer Exam with Online Courses

Passing the FE Electrical and Computer exam is a critical milestone for aspiring engineers pursuing licensure in the United States. Designed by the NCEES®, this computer-based test (CBT) evaluates a candidate’s grasp of fundamental engineering concepts. To succeed, it’s essential to have a solid preparation plan, and a high-quality FE Electrical Exam Online Course can make all the difference.

Challenges of the FE Electrical and Computer Exam

The FE Electrical and Computer exam covers a broad range of topics, including mathematics, circuit analysis, electronics, and control systems. Its comprehensive scope and rigorous question patterns demand a focused study approach. Many students and professionals face challenges such as time management, understanding complex concepts, and solving problems efficiently under timed conditions.

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An FE Electrical Exam Online Course tailored to the NCEES® specifications is a game-changer for aspiring engineers. At StudyForFE, we provide a comprehensive, step-by-step approach that simplifies preparation and enhances understanding.

Here’s why choosing our FE Electrical and Computer preparation program is the smart way to prepare:

Simplified Explanations for Complex Topics

Our course focuses on teaching engineering concepts from the ground up, ensuring clarity and a deeper understanding. We break down challenging topics into digestible modules, making them easier to grasp.

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The course is designed to familiarize you with the CBT format of the FE Electrical and Computer exam. By practicing with timed mock tests, you’ll improve your speed and accuracy.

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Whether you’re a recent graduate or a working professional, our online course fits seamlessly into your schedule. Learn at your own pace, revisiting topics as needed.

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At StudyForFE, we’ve helped countless engineers pass the FE Electrical and Computer exam. Our course is designed to reduce preparation time while increasing comprehension and confidence. By combining structured content with problem-solving strategies, we provide an all-in-one preparation experience.

Don’t let the challenges of the FE exam hold you back. Enroll in the FE Electrical Exam Online Course at StudyForFE today and take a step closer to your engineering licensure goals.

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#FE Electrical and Computer Online Course #FE Electrical and Computer #FE Electrical #FE Electrical Exam #FE Electrical and Computer Exam #FE Electrical Exam Online Course #FE Electrical Course #Fundamentals of Engineering Electrical and Computer #Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering #Fundamentals of Engineering Electrical

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studyforfe · 7 months ago

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Fundamental Of Electrical Engineering

The Ultimate One-Stop Platform for effective preparation of the latest FE Electrical and Computer Exam.

#FE Electrical Preparation #FE Electrical Course #FE Electrical Exam Online Course #FE Electrical and Computer Online Course #FE Electrical Study Guide #FE Electrical And Computer #FE Electrical #Fundamentals Of Engineering Electrical And Computer #FE Electrical And Computer Practice Exam #Fundamentals Of Engineering Electrical #Electrical Power PE Exam #Fundamental Of Electrical Engineering

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jcmarchi · 1 year ago

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Studying astrophysically relevant plasma physics

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/studying-astrophysically-relevant-plasma-physics/

Studying astrophysically relevant plasma physics

Thomas Varnish loves his hobbies — knitting, baking, pottery — it’s a long list. His latest interest is analog film photography. A picture with his mother and another with his boyfriend are just a few of Varnish’s favorites. “These moments of human connection are the ones I like,” he says.

Varnish’s love of capturing a fleeting moment on film translates to his research when he conducts laser interferometry on plasmas using off-the-shelf cameras. At the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, the third-year doctoral student studies various facets of astrophysically relevant fundamental plasma physics under the supervision of Professor Jack Hare.

It’s an area of research that Varnish arrived at organically.

A childhood fueled by science

Growing up in Warwickshire, England, Varnish fell in love with lab experiments as a middle-schooler after joining the science club. He remembers graduating from the classic egg-drop experiment to tracking the trajectory of a catapult, and eventually building his own model electromagnetic launch system. It was a set of electromagnets and sensors spaced along a straight track that could accelerate magnets and shoot them out the end. Varnish demonstrated the system by using it to pop balloons. Later, in high school, being a part of the robotics club team got him building a team of robots to compete in RoboCup, an international robot soccer competition. Varnish also joined the astronomy club, which helped seed an interest in the adjacent field of astrophysics.

Varnish moved on to Imperial College London to study physics as an undergraduate but he was still shopping around for definitive research interests. Always a hands-on science student, Varnish decided to give astronomy instrumentation a whirl during a summer school session in Canada.

However, even this discipline didn’t quite seem to stick until he came upon a lab at Imperial conducting research in experimental astrophysics. Called MAGPIE (The Mega Ampere Generator for Plasma Implosion Experiments), the facility merged two of Varnish’s greatest loves: hands-on experiments and astrophysics. Varnish eventually completed an undergraduate research opportunity (UROP) project at MAGPIE under the guidance of Hare, his current advisor, who was then a postdoc at the MAGPIE lab at Imperial College.

Part of Varnish’s research for his master’s degree at Imperial involved stitching together observations from the retired Herschel Space Telescope to create the deepest far-infrared image ever made by the instrument. The research also used statistical techniques to understand the patterns of brightness distribution in the images and to trace them to specific combinations of galaxy occurrences. By studying patterns in the brightness of a patch of dark sky, Varnish could discern the population of galaxies in the region.

Move to MIT

Varnish followed Hare (and a dream of studying astrophysics) to MIT, where he primarily focuses on plasma in the context of astrophysical environments. He studies experimental pulsed-power-driven magnetic reconnection in the presence of a guide field.

Key to Varnish’s experiments is a pulsed-power facility, which is essentially a large capacitor capable of releasing a significant surge of current. The electricity passes through (and vaporizes) thin wires in a vacuum chamber to create a plasma. At MIT, the facility currently being built at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) by Hare’s group is called: PUFFIN (PUlser For Fundamental (Plasma Physics) INvestigations).

In a pulsed-power facility, tiny cylindrical arrays of extremely thin metal wires usually generate the plasma. Varnish’s experiments use an array in which graphite leads, the kind used in mechanical pencils, replace the wires. “Doing so gives us the right kind of plasma with the right kind of properties we’d like to study,” Varnish says. The solution is also easy to work with and “not as fiddly as some other methods.” A thicker post in the middle completes the array. A pulsed current traveling down the array vaporizes the thin wires into a plasma. The interactions between the current flowing through the plasma and the generated magnetic field pushes the plasma radially outward. “Each little array is like a little exploding bubble of magnetized plasma,” Varnish says. He studies the interaction between the plasma flows at the center of two adjacent arrays.

Studying plasma behavior

The plasma generated in these pulsed-power experiments is stable only for a few hundred nanoseconds, so diagnostics have to take advantage of an extremely short sampling window. Laser interferometry, which images plasma density, is Varnish’s favorite. In this technique, a camera takes a picture of a split laser beam, one arm of which encounters the plasma and one that doesn’t. The arm that hits the plasma produces an interference pattern when the two arms are recombined. Capturing the result with a camera allows researchers to infer the structure of the plasma flows.

Another diagnostic method involves placing tiny loops of metal wire in the plasma (called B-dots), which record how the magnetic field in the plasma changes in time. Yet another way to study plasma physics is using a technique called Faraday rotation, which measures the twisting of polarized light as it passes through a magnetic field. The net result is an “image map of magnetic fields, which is really quite incredible,” Varnish says.

These diagnostic techniques help Varnish research magnetic reconnection, the process by which plasma breaks and reforms magnetic fields. It’s all about energy redistribution, Varnish says, and is particularly relevant because it creates solar flares. Varnish studies how having not-perfectly-opposite magnetic field lines might affect the reconnection process.

Most research in plasma physics can be neatly explained by the principles of magnetohydrodynamics, but the phenomena observed in Varnish’s experiments need to be explained with additional theories. Using pulsed power enables studies over longer length scales and time periods than in other experiments, such as laser-driven ones. Varnish is looking forward to working on simulations and follow-up experiments on PUFFIN to study these phenomena under slightly different conditions, which might shed new light on the processes.

At the moment, Varnish’s focus is on programming the control systems for PUFFIN so he can get it up and running. Part of the diagnostics system involves ensuring that the facility will deliver the plasma-inducing currents needed and perform as expected.

Aiding LGBTQ+ efforts

When not working on PUFFIN or his experiments, Varnish serves as co-lead of an LGBTQ+ affinity group at the PSFC, which he set up with a fellow doctoral student. The group offers a safe space for LGBTQ+ scientists and meets for lunch about once a month. “It’s been a nice bit of community building, and I think it’s important to support other LGBTQ+ scientists and make everyone feel welcome, even if it’s just in small ways,” Varnish says, “It has definitely helped me to feel more comfortable knowing there’s a handful of fellow LGBTQ+ scientists at the center.”

Varnish has his hobbies going. One of his go-to bakes is a “rocky road,” a British chocolate bar that mixes chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers. His research interests, too, are a delicious concoction mixed together: “the intersection of plasma physics, laboratory astrophysics, astrophysics (the won’t-fit-in-a-lab kind), and instrumentation.”

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