Start-ups as technology life cycle indicator for the early stage of application: An analysis of the battery value chain

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Insights from battery research and development (R&D) need to be transferred into industrial application to create innovations and thus foster e.g. electro mobility. In terms of battery technology transfer, the early phase of application is particularly challenging due to the close intertwining between R&D and application. Therefore, the present study introduces start-ups as an additional indicator to capture the transition from science to industry within the technology life cycle. The findings show that despite highly dynamic R&D activities, technology transfer is only taking place on a very limited level. Surprisingly, start-ups focus on incremental improvements of existing technologies instead of introducing radical breakthrough-technologies. An analysis of the battery value chain reveals that opportunities for start-ups are rather located downstream in the value chain when integrating cells to battery systems and developing applications relying on innovative battery technologies. The findings contribute to the area of technology life cycle analysis explicitly using start-up companies as additional indicator for the critical transfer step from R&D to application. In a similar vein, technology forecasting literature, which is to date mainly focused on R&D, is expanded by a more application-centred perspective that allows identifying transfer opportunities along the technology value chain

Effects of Force Level and Hand Dominance on Bilateral Transfer of a Fine Motor Skill

Our research is about bilateral transfer, a concept in motor learning where skills learned by one limb are "transferred", allowing the opposite limb to benefit from what was learned by the first limb. Previous research into bilateral transfer has raised questions about whether specific aspects of motor coordination are or are not transferred. We wanted to see whether learning to control pinch force by the thumb and index finger is transferable, and if it is, whether the learning transfers equally from either hand. We also want to look into the effects of different force levels on the degree of transfer. We designed a task using a program that takes force levels as inputs and has the participant trace shapes on a screen. By having participants perform with one hand, then practice with the other, and finally perform again with the initial hand, we can measure transfer as the difference in performance before and after practice with the other hand.Kinesiology and Health Educatio

Challenges in multiphysics modeling of dual-band HgCdTe infrared detectors

We present three-dimensional simulations of HgCdTe-based focal plane arrays (FPAs) with two-color and dual-band sequential infrared pixels having realistic truncated-pyramid shape taking into account the presence of compositionally-graded transition layers. Simulations emphasize the importance of a full-wave approach to the electromagnetic problem, and the evaluations of the optical and diffusive contribution to inter-pixel crosstalk indicate the effectiveness of deep trenches to prevent diffusive crosstalk in both wavebands

Plasmonic nanorods for enhanced absorption in mid-wavelength infrared detectors

The absorption properties of HgCdTe-based infrared detectors can be greatly increased in the mid-infrared band, by incorporating nanostructured plasmonic arrays on the illuminated detector face. The array periodicity, combined with the excitation of surface plasmon-polariton stationary modes, enhances the absorption efficiency by a substantial amount, allowing to reduce in turn the HgCdTe absorption thickness

Next-generation long-wavelength infrared detector arrays: competing technologies and modeling challenges

In this paper, Sb-based superlattice fabrication processing is based on standard III-V technology, implying lower costs of mass production and constituting a relatively new alternative for an IR material system in LWIR and VLWIR bands

Diffusive-Probabilistic Model for Inter-Pixel Crosstalk in HgCdTe Focal Plane Arrays

A closed-form probabilistic model for inter-pixel crosstalk in planar HgCdTe focal plane arrays is presented, providing simple expressions of crosstalk as function of device parameters like the pixel pitch, the absorber thickness, and the extension of the carrier depleted region. The method is effective in particular for performing parameter sensitivity studies on inter-pixel crosstalk, as an alternative to large-scale numerical simulations. The model is validated against three-dimensional combined optical and electrical numerical simulations, considering realistic, non-monochromatic illumination

Momentum-space signatures of Berry flux monopoles in the Weyl semimetal TaAs

Since the early days of Dirac flux quantization, magnetic monopoles have been sought after as a potential corollary of quantized electric charge. As opposed to magnetic monopoles embedded into the theory of electromagnetism, Weyl semimetals (WSM) exhibit Berry flux monopoles in reciprocal parameter space. As a function of crystal momentum, such monopoles locate at the crossing point of spin-polarized bands forming the Weyl cone. Here, we report momentum-resolved spectroscopic signatures of Berry flux monopoles in TaAs as a paradigmatic WSM. We carried out angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy at bulk-sensitive soft X-ray energies (SX-ARPES) combined with photoelectron spin detection and circular dichroism. The experiments reveal large spin- and orbital-angular-momentum (SAM and OAM) polarizations of the Weyl-fermion states, resulting from the broken crystalline inversion symmetry in TaAs. Supported by first-principles calculations, our measurements image signatures of a topologically non-trivial winding of the OAM at the Weyl nodes and unveil a chirality-dependent SAM of the Weyl bands. Our results provide directly bulk-sensitive spectroscopic support for the non-trivial band topology in the WSM TaAs, promising to have profound implications for the study of quantum-geometric effects in solids