In the news

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University researchers have invented a new smart drainage device to help patients with glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness in the world, as they try to save their eyesight. Glaucoma can be treated only with medications or surgical implants, both of which offer varying degrees of success in helping to improve sight and to relieve pressure buildup inside the eye. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 3 million Americans have glaucoma.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The DESY accelerator facility in Hamburg, Germany, goes on for miles to host a particle making kilometer-long laps at almost the speed of light. Now researchers have shrunk such a facility to the size of a computer chip. A University of Michigan team in collaboration with Purdue University created a new device that still accommodates speed along circular paths, but for producing lower light frequencies in the terahertz range of applications such as identifying counterfeit dollar bills or distinguishing between cancerous and healthy tissue.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Hacker attacks on everything from social media accounts to government files could be largely prevented by the advent of quantum communication, which would use particles of light called "photons" to secure information rather than a crackable code. The problem is that quantum communication is currently limited by how much information single photons can help send securely, called a "secret bit rate." Purdue University researchers created a new technique that would increase the secret bit rate 100-fold, to over 35 million photons per second.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — For years, researchers have dreamed of the impact quantum computers could have on technology and innovation. Now that several companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Google, IonQ and others, have quantum computers ready to use, it’s up to scientists to figure out how to use them and what to use them for. A team of Purdue University researchers, led by Sabre Kais, a professor of chemistry, has received a grant for $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop new quantum technologies and systems.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Quantum research at Purdue University is taking great leaps studying the smallest of particles with Monday’s (Sept. 24) announcement of two projects picked for the National Science Foundation’s Quantum Leap Initiative. The projects were two of only 25 picked by the NSF for the new initiative, which will use quantum mechanics to observe, manipulate and control the behavior of particles and energy at atomic and subatomic scales, resulting in next-generation technologies. Andrew Weiner, the Scifres Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Sunil Bhave, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, are the principal investigators for the two projects.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Aug. 28, 2018 — The sophisticated spy-vs.-spy of cybersecurity and cyberattacks has reached the point where even the foundational hardware and materials of electronic devices needs to be re-thought.

If asked to name the world's deadliest animal, one might guess a shark or a rattlesnake or maybe even a tiger. But the answer is an animal Hoosiers know more typically as an itch-inducing backyard nuisance, yet one that globally can carry and spread diseases that kill millions of people each year: the mosquito. And the world's problem is hitting closer to home, thanks to increasing globalization, international travel, and climate change. Indianapolis is no exception. Marion County saw a 500 percent increase in monitored mosquito populations from 1981 to 2016. Even more, the number of cases in the continental U.S. of mosquito-borne diseases, such as Zika, dengue, West Nile, and chikungunya, has climbed over the past two decades. To help combat these tropical diseases, a team of researchers at Purdue University has created a startup company — SMK Diagnostics — that is developing a device to rapidly detect and monitor various mosquito-borne diseases.

The rainbow is not just colors – each color of light has its own frequency. The more frequencies you have, the higher the bandwidth for transmitting information.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The same way that yeast yields beer and bread can help hospital lab workers better track their daily radiation exposure, enabling a faster assessment of tissue damage that could lead to cancer.

Purdue University researchers have developed a new class of optical nanotweezers that can trap and detect biomolecules, viruses and DNA more rapidly. The technology can also use light to promptly detect cancer or improve the production of medications, an important step forward as nearly half of Americans have used at least one prescription drug within the past month.