Sensoren, Geräte und Komponenten

Reversible adhesion can be used to transfer or to manipulate objects. Especially if the objects are small and/or fragile their manipulation become very challenging. Intermolecular forces such as Van-der-Waals can be used to achieve a strong adhesion between the objects. Moreover, surface functionalization and the creation of nano- and microstructures can be used to improve these adhesion properties. Unfortunately, the adhesion becomes insufficient if the surfaces are wet or rough. Another problems ...

Conventional mechanical zippers find manifold applications for luggage, clothing or even industrial applications. However, their design features significant disadvantages. In particular, they require the use of both hands by the user to align the ends of the garment and lock the insertion pin into the slider. This mechanism can be prone to jamming and failure and more generally requires the user to free his or her hands. The user must further use one or both hands to move the slider along the ...

Ultrasound is being used in many fields ranging from medical imaging and therapy to non-destructive testing, contact-free particle handling or spatially selective heating in industrial settings. Often, those applications require shaping (including focusing) of an ultrasonic field. Compared to existing transducers with fixed lenses or phased array transducers (PATs) the present invention allows much more sophisticated sound fields to be generated using much simpler and cheaper technology.

Applying high voltages in vacuum applications requires feedthroughs, which electrically insulate the conductor from the vacuum chamber whilst being vacuum-tight. In high- and ultrahigh vacuum environments, the materials used need to be low in outgassing rates. The current technology for feedthroughs withstanding tens to hundreds of kilovolts relies on vacuum-tight ceramic to metal connections, which are heavy, fragile and prone to contamination. Commercially available feedthroughs are stand-alone ...

The function of brain tissue is based on the dynamics of numerous nerve cells and their synaptic interaction. Direct electrical interfacing of semiconductors and nerve cells is the physical basis for a systematic development of hybrid neuroelectronic devices, such as neurocomputers and neuroprostheses. Excited nerve cells and field-effect transistors are coupled by a dissipative mechanism: ionic current through the adherent cell membrane flows along the electrical resistance of a narrow layer ...

A laser device (100), configured for generating laser pulses, has a laser resonator (10) with a gain disk medium (11) and a Kerr medium (12). The laser resonator (10) includes a first mode shaping section (13) which is adapted for shaping a circulating electric field coupled into the gain disk medium (11), and a second mode shaping section (14), which is adapted for shaping the circulating electric field coupled into the Kerr medium (12) independently of the electric field shaping in the first ...

An efficient system to monitor and control animal behavior in wildlife as well as in laboratory settings

Im Zuge der stetigen Weiterentwicklung und Nachfrage auf dem Gebiet der minimal invasiven Chirugie wurde am Max-Planck-Institut für intelligente Systeme in Stuttgart im Team von Herrn Prof Sitti für patientenfreundliche Magen-Darm-Untersuchungen ein kabelloses kapselförmiges Endoskop in Pillengröße, das sogenannte "B-MASCE" entwickelt. Die aus einem Elastomer bestehende Kapsel dient hierbei sowohl als Gehäuse als auch als Federelement für die Nadel. Über in der Kapsel eingebaute Magnete ...