Optics

EPFL scientists in Neuchâtel have developed a tandem solar cell that can deliver a certified efficiency of 29.2%. This achievement was made possible by combining a perovskite solar cell with a textured silicon solar cell.

EPFL engineers have developed a low-temperature annealing method that maintains the structure of gold and silver when the two metals are combined in an alloy. Their discovery will prove useful in the manufacture of contact lenses, holographic optical elements and other optical components, since the new alloys reflect the full spectral range.

EPFL researchers have developed a new type of printing process that involves removing material rather than depositing it. Their method could be particularly useful for printing banknotes and ID documents, for example.

At EPFL, a team of scientists created and observed a new physical phenomenon on an optical chip using modified lights.

Thanks to the high-power electron microscopes at the Dubochet Center for Imaging (DCI), EPFL scientists were able to observe the configuration of the Omicron variant’s spike protein at a near-atomic scale. This should provide fresh insight into the mechanisms the variant uses to evade vaccines and antibodies.

Scientists in Switzerland and Germany have achieved efficient electron-beam modulation using integrated photonics – circuits that guide light on a chip. The experiments could lead to entirely new quantum measurement schemes in electron microscopy.