相关论文: The Economics of Interstellar Flight
Optoionics, a promising new field that aims at controlling ion dynamics using light, links photovoltaic power generation with electrochemical charge storage. This has the potential to drive and accelerate the energy revolution by utilizing…
Metasurfaces with unparalleled controllability of light have shown great potential to revolutionize conventional optics. However, they mainly work with free-space light input, which makes it difficult for full on-chip integration. On the…
Directed energy for planetary defense is now a viable option and is superior in many ways to other proposed technologies, being able to defend the Earth against all known threats. This paper presents basic ideas behind a directed energy…
Magnetic energy is one the main agents powering our society: generating energy in power plants, keeping information in magnetic memories, moving our devices with motors. All of these applications require a certain spatial distribution of…
Efficient energy harvesting, conversion, and recycling technologies are crucial for addressing the challenges faced by modern societies and the global economy. The potential of harnessing mid-infrared (mid-IR) thermal radiation as a…
The recent explosive compute growth, mainly fueled by the boost of AI and DNNs, is currently instigating the demand for a novel computing paradigm that can overcome the insurmountable barriers imposed by conventional electronic computing…
Much of today's sustainability discourse emphasizes efficiency, clean technologies, and smart systems, but largely underestimates fundamental physical constraints relating to energy-matter interactions. These constraints stem from the fact…
Much of the progress in Astronomy has been driven by instrumental developments, from the first telescopes to fiber fed spectrographs. In this review we describe the field of astrophotonics, a combination of photonics and astronomical…
The electronic chip industry embodies the height of technological sophistication and economics of scale. Fabricating inexpensive photonic components by leveraging this mighty manufacturing infrastructure has fueled intense interest in…
Optical interferometry provides us with a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of stellar structure and evolution. Through direct observation of rotationally distorted photospheres at sub-milliarcsecond scales, we are now able to…
Astrophysics and planetary science are in crisis. The large missions we need for the next generation of observations cost too much to let us do more than one at a time. This spreads the science out onto a generational timescale, inhibiting…
Astronomy, often perceived as a distant or luxury science, holds immense potential as a driver for sustainable local socio-economic development. This paper explores how astronomy can create tangible benefits for communities through…
Explore alien solar systems via local star power using interstellar photovoltaics, tailored for the particular target star for maximum power and low mass. We consider tailored organic thin-film photovoltaics. Key for sensing, sending more…
The growing penetration of renewable energy requires upgrades to the transmission network to ensure the deliverability of renewable generation. As an efficient alternative to transmission expansion, flexible transmission technologies, whose…
Data center networks are experiencing unprecedented exponential growth, mostly driven by the continuous computing demands in machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms. Within this realm, optical networking offers numerous…
Photonics offer numerous functionalities that can be used to realize astrophotonic instruments. The most spectacular example to date is the ESO Gravity instrument at the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Integrated astrophotonic devices stand…
A theme that has come to the fore in advanced planning for long-range space exploration is the concept of "propellantless propulsion" or "field propulsion." One version of this concept involves the projected possibility that empty space…
A theme that has come to the fore in advanced planning for long-range space exploration is the concept of "propellantless propulsion" or "field propulsion." One version of this concept involves the projected possibility that empty space…
The world is changing fast, and so is the space sector. Planning for large scientific experiments two decades ahead may no longer be the most sensible approach. I develop the argument that large science experiments are becoming comparable…
The rapidly increasing demands for computational throughput, bandwidth, and memory capacity fueled by breakthroughs in machine learning pose substantial challenges for conventional electronic computing platforms. For digital scaling to keep…