2019年经济学人 绯红色(2)

 

As it happens, rubies¹ are one of Dr Subramanian's inspirations.

碰巧，红宝石是Subramanian博士的灵感之一。

His hope is that by piggybacking on the structure of their crystals—

他希望借助它们晶体的结构—

already known to yield an appropriately, well, ruby², colour—he might be able to reproduce the effect.

已知能够产生适当的红宝石色—他也许能重现这种效果。

A weakness of this approach is that rubies themselves make an unsatisfactory pigment³. When crushed, they become pale pink.

这种方法的一个弊端在于红宝石本身不能产生令人满意的色素。当它们被压碎时，就会变成淡粉色。

A second avenue may be more promising⁴. Many inorganic⁵ reds, including those based on cadmium, lead and mercury, are semiconductors⁷.

第二种方法或许更有希望。很多无机红色，包括那些基于镉、铅和汞的红色都是半导体。

Dr Subramanian and his team hope to use tin—a metal in the same group of the periodic table as lead—

Subramanian博士和他的小组希望利用锡—一种在周期表中和铅属同一组的金属—

to produce a similarly vibrant⁸, though non-toxic, semiconductor⁶ pigment.

生产一种同样鲜艳但无毒的半导体色素。

Inevitably⁹, the semiconductor approach does bring problems of its own.

半导体方法本身也会带来不可避免的问题。

A semiconductor's colour depends on a phenomenon called its band gap. This is the ease with which its atoms can shed electrons.

一个半导体的颜色取决于一种被称为带隙的现象，因此它的原子可以轻易地释放电子。

The process of shedding requires energy, often in the form of light,

脱落的过程需要能量，通常以光的形式，

so a substance's band gap helps determine which frequencies of light it absorbs and which it reflects.

因此，物质的带隙有助于确定它吸收和反射的光的频率。

Unfortunately, band gaps can, themselves, be altered by exposure to energy in the form of heat or light. That changes the pigment's colour.

不幸的是，带隙本身可以通过暴露于热或光形式的能量中而改变。这就改变了色素的颜色。

For example, mercury sulphide, known to painters as vermilion, has a small band gap.

例如，硫化汞，被画家称为朱红色，有一个小的带隙。

This means it absorbs much of the visible spectrum¹⁰, reflecting only red because red light is insufficiently¹¹ energetic to shift the relevant electrons.

这意味着它吸收了大部分可见光谱，只反射红光，因为红光的能量不足以转移相关的电子。

If the gap is diminished still more, as sometimes happens when vermilion is exposed to light,

如果带隙进一步缩小，就像有时朱红色暴露在阳光下所发生的那样

the pigment absorbs all visible light and turns black. Making a semiconducting red is not enough, then.

色素会吸收所有可见光并变成黑色。因此，制造半导体红色是不够的。

It also needs to stay red when in use. And that essential property remains¹² elusive¹³.

它还需要在使用过程中保持红色。而这一基本属性仍然难以捉摸。

Dr Subramanian and his team have got close. The tin approach has resulted in some promising flame-bright superconducting oranges.

Subramanian博士而他的小组已经接近成功。锡方法已经产生了一些有希望的鲜如火焰的超导橘色。

But shrinking the band gaps of such materials just that little bit further, to the point where a brilliant red is reflected instead,

但进一步缩小这种材料的带隙直到反射出明亮的红色

has so far proved beyond their chemical skills.

到目前为止，他们的化学技能还无法证明。

1 rubies   

红宝石( ruby的名词复数 )； 红宝石色，深红色

参考例句：

• a necklace of rubies intertwined with pearls 缠着珍珠的红宝石项链
• The crown was set with precious jewels—diamonds, rubies and emeralds. 王冠上镶嵌着稀世珍宝—有钻石、红宝石、绿宝石。

2 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

3 pigment   

n.天然色素，干粉颜料

参考例句：

• The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls.古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。
• Who thought he might know what the skin pigment phenomenon meant.他自认为可能知道皮肤色素出现这种现象到底是怎么回事。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

5 inorganic   

adj.无生物的；无机的

参考例句：

• The fundamentals of inorganic chemistry are very important.无机化学的基础很重要。
• This chemical plant recently bought a large quantity of inorganic salt.这家化工厂又买进了大量的无机盐。

6 semiconductor   

n.半导体

参考例句：

• In the beginning,engineers hoped to use semiconductor lasers.在开始时，工程师们希望能够利用半导体激光器。
• The main agent of the company brand semiconductor sales.本公司主要代理各品牌半导体销售。

7 semiconductors   

n.半导体( semiconductor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Crystals may be insulators, semiconductors, or conductors. 晶体可以是绝缘体，半导体，或导体。 来自辞典例句
• Semiconductors containing such impurities are called p-type semiconductors. 含有这类杂质的半导体叫做P型半导体。 来自辞典例句

8 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

9 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

10 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

11 insufficiently   

adv.不够地，不能胜任地

参考例句：

• Your insurance card is insufficiently stamped. 你的保险卡片未贴足印花。 来自辞典例句
• Many of Britain's people are poorly dressed, badly housed, insufficiently nourished. 许多英国人衣着寒伧，居住简陋，营养不良。 来自互联网

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。