The theory of electromagnetic polarisation has been under development for more than 150 years since British scientist Michael Faraday provided the first experimental evidence of the interaction between electricity, magnetism and light. An EU-funded project is now helping to fit together the missing pieces of the puzzle.
The MAGicSky project is investigating the potential of nano-sized particle-like topological deformations, known as skyrmions, to revolutionise technologies for data storage and processing, making them more effective and energy-efficient.
Precision mechanical sensors are a fundamental part of modern technologies and are used to stabilise aeroplanes, predict earthquakes, deploy life-saving airbags, monitor the integrity of bridges, and even time computer processes. Despite being used almost universally, their precision is generally limited by the electronic circuits used to monitor them. The EU-funded cQOM project has been working on using light instead of electronics to monitor these sensors to significantly enhance precision and reliability.
New building concepts that take into account catastrophic events such as earthquakes have the potential to save thousands of lives. EU-funded researchers have pioneered new methods and materials for constructing earthquake-fire resistant buildings that are lightweight, energy efficient and cost-effective. The project's results are currently being commercialised.
