Physics News

Tapping a principle of quantum mechanics and a medieval-looking nanoparticle, a UK firm has created a composite material that may soon deliver efficient, pressure-sensitive touchscreens to numerous devices. Yorkshire-based Peratech has already licensed the technology to a division of Samsung that provides mobile components to other handset manufacturers, but it's in the growing realm of touchscreen tech where the potential for Quantum Tunneling Composite (QTC) is most exciting. The composite works on an idea in quantum mechanics that if you shoot a tiny particle at a solid wall, there is a slim probability that it will pass straight through, based on an effect known as quantum tunneling. QTC is made by evenly dispersing a bunch of spiky, conducting nanoparticles resembling tiny medieval maces in a thin polymer layer. The nanoparticles don't touch one another, but the closer they get to a neighboring particle, the more likely a charge will tunnel through and connect the two. Press the layer with your