Skip Navigation CALL: (734) 764-7260 RELEASES EXPERTS NOTICIAS EN ESPAñOL photo services news staff BROADCAST U-M IN THE NEWS RESEARCH NEWS VP COMMUNICATIONS Marketing & Design Tips for faculty Publications UNIVERSITY RECORD RECOR

RD UPDATE MICHIGAN TODAY Social Networks FACEBOOK TWITTER YOUTUBE MOST EMAILED 412 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109-1399 PHONE: (734)764-7260 FAX: (734) 764-7084 CURRENT | ARCHIVES Print Share * Faceboo

ok * Email * Del.icio.us * Digg * Reddit * Twitter * Newsvine * What’s this? April 13, 2011 Solar power without solar cells: A hidd

den magnetic effect of light could make it possible ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A dramatic and surprising magnetic effect of light discovered by University of Michigan researchers could lead to solar power without traditional semiconductor-based sola

ar cells. The researchers found a way to make an “optical battery,” said Stephen Rand, a professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Physics and Appl

lied Physics. In the process, they overturned a century-old tenet of physics. “You could stare at the equations of motion all day and you will not see this possibility. We’ve all been taught that this doesn’t happen,” said Rand, an a

author of a paper on the work published in the Journal of Applied Physics. “It’s a very odd interaction. That’s why it’s been overlooked for more than 100 years.” Li

ight has electric and magnetic components. Until now, scientists thought the effects of the magnetic field were so weak that they could be ignored. What Rand and his colleagues found is that at the right intensity, when ligh

ht is traveling through a material that does not conduct electricity, the light field can generate magnetic effects that are 100

million times stronger than previously expected. Under these circumstances, the magnetic effects develop strength equivalent to a strong ele

ectric effect. “This could lead to a new kind of solar cell without semiconductors and without absorption to produce charge separation,” Rand said. “In solar cells, th

he light goes into a material, gets absorbed and creates heat. Here, we expect to have a very low heat load. Instead of the light being absorbed, energy is stored in the magnetic moment. Intense m

magnetization can be induced by intense light and then it is ultimately capable of providing a capacitive power source.” What makes this possibl

le is a previously undetected brand of “optical rectification,” says William Fisher, a doctoral student in applied physics. In traditional optical rect

tification, light’s electric field causes a charge separation, or a pulling apart of the positive and negative charges in a material. This sets up a voltage, similar to that in a

a battery. This electric effect had previously been detected only in crystalline materials that possessed a certain symmetry. Rand and Fisher found that under the right circumstances and in other types of materials, the light’s magn

netic field can also create optical rectification. “It turns out that the magnetic field starts curving the electrons into a C-shape and they move forward a littl

le each time,” Fisher said. “That C-shape of charge motion generates both an electric dipole and a magnetic dipole. If we can set up many of these in a row in a long fiber, we can make a huge voltage and by extracting that voltage, we can

n use it as a power source.” The light must be shone through a material that does not conduct electricity, such as glass. And it must be focused to an inten

nsity of 10 million watts per square centimeter. Sunlight isn’t this intense on its own, but new materials are being sought that would work at lower intensities, Fisher said. “In our most rec

cent paper, we show that incoherent light like sunlight is theoretically almost as effective in producing charge separation as laser light is,” Fisher said. This new technique could make solar power cheaper, the researc

chers say. They predict that with improved materials they could achieve 10 percent efficiency in converting solar power to useable energy. That’s equivalent to

today’s commercial-grade solar cells. “To manufacture modern solar cells, you have to do extensive semiconductor processing,” Fisher sa

aid. “All we would need are lenses to focus the light and a fiber to guide it. Glass works for both. It’s already made in bulk, and it doesn’t require as much processing. Transparent ceramics might be even better.” In experiments t

this summer, the researchers will work on harnessing this power with laser light, and then with sunlight. The paper is titled “Optically-induced charge separation and terahertz emission

in unbiased dielectrics.” The university is pursuing patent protection for the intellectual property. U-M Sustainability fosters a more sustainable world through collaborations across campus and beyond aimed at educating student

ts, generating new knowledge, and minimizing our environmental footprint. Learn more at http://sustainability.umich.edu/. Related Links: College of Engineering Stephen Ra

and Contact: Nicole Casal Moore Phone: (734) 647-7087 Or Contact: Catharine June Phone: (734) 936-2965 Related Categories: Environment Physics/

/Math Related Keywords: solar, optical, battery, magnet Search releases advanced search > search tips > Videos video page icon Podcasts Weekly podcasts Slideshows slideshow icon U-M Books U-M b

books Quicklinks Maps Key issues U-M Events Health System Athletics News Flint Dearborn Copyright © 2010 The Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA 734-764-1817 Non-Discrimination Policy

Gamers have been waiting years for Nintendo to finally release its Wii successor, and Game Informer has heard from multiple sources that the company will unveil it at E3

this summer if not sooner. We have confirmed with multiple sources that this new home system is capable of running games at HD resolutions.

There are conflicting reports, however, as to whether its graphics will be comparable to those on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 – meaning it could surpass or fall short of those systems. Either way it wil

ll offer competitive specifications. Moving to HD should greatly help Nintendo and its new console in getting more multi-platform triple-A titles like Portal 2 or Mortal Kombat. This, in turn, will strengthen Nintendo's historically poor relationship with

h third-party publishers/developers. In fact, Nintendo is already showing publishers the system in an effort to get them interest

ted and allow them plenty of time to start developing titles in anticipation of the system's reported late 2012 launch. This advance support marks a change fr

rom when the Wii launched. At that time, several Western publishers were outright surprised by the announcement, and it affected the software support for the platform. Nintendo president Sa

atoru Iwata himself acknowledged that it needs to do a better job with its publishing partners at a 3DS press conference in the fall of 2010. "We need to dec

crease the concern that only Nintendo software can sell well on Nintendo platforms and third-party software cannot sell in the same volume. We feel a need to

o have closer ties with our third-party developers from the beginning." "Nintendo is doing this one right," said an anonymous source. "[It's] not a gimmick like the Wii." What else,

beyond graphics, this may imply about the system is unknown. What kind of controls the system will support (we imagine a need for both class

sic analog configurations and motion controllers) or what level of software and infrastructure Nintendo will provide for online gaming is also unknown. However,

it's a positive sign that the system might be more than just an HD Wii. We've heard about an HD Wii for some time now, and the time is perfect – almost necessary

y – for Nintendo to jump start itself with this new system. The company has been feeling the bite since Wii sales have declined from pr

revious years, and this week's news that Nintendo could be dropping the price of the Wii on May 15 could be a precursor to this announcement and an attempt to move as many Wii units as possible out of the retail channel before the new syst

tem hits. We do not have confirmation if this new system will be backward compatible with the Wii or if it will even carry the Wii branding as has often been

n rumored. It is our understanding that Nintendo is trying to embrace the western gamer and will likely launch a new brand with this console. Around the office we have dubbed the system Nintendo

o HD. However, this information at this point is conjecture. We contacted a Nintendo representative regarding this information, and they would only say that "Nintendo does not comment on rumo

ors or speculation." Either way, it should be an exciting E3 for Nintendo and gamers alike.