Physics

May 31st, 2023 - Atoms may not have bones, but we still want to know how they are put together. These tiny particles are the basis on which all normal matter is built (including our bones), and understanding them helps us understand the larger Universe. We currently use high-energy X-ray light to help us understand atoms and molecules and how they're arranged, catching diffracted beams to reconstruct their configurations in crystal form. Now, scientists have used X-rays to characterize the properties of a ... [Read More]

May 31st, 2023 - Microsoft's Quantum Breakthrough – Were They Wrong? In March 2022, Microsoft announced research findings concerning the manifestation of a unique particle that could potentially be utilized for crafting notably durable quantum bits. However, University of Basel's researchers are currently questioning these conclusions regarding the so-called Majorana particles. They've carried out computations that indicate that the results can be explained differently. In 1938, a brilliant mind ... [Read More]

May 31st, 2023 - Whether it's baking a cake, building a house, or developing a quantum device, the quality of the end product significantly depends on its ingredients or base materials. Researchers working to improve the performance of superconducting qubits, the foundation of quantum computers, have been experimenting using different base materials in an effort to increase the coherent lifetimes of qubits. The coherence time is a measure of how long a qubit retains quantum information, and thus a primary ... [Read More]

May 31st, 2023 - A team from NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a novel device using gallium nitride nanopillars on silicon that significantly improves the conversion of heat into electricity. This could potentially recover large amounts of wasted heat energy, benefiting industries and power grids. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have fabricated a novel device that could dramatically boost the conversion of heat into electricity. If perfected, the ... [Read More]

May 31st, 2023 - SX-STM enables detection of atom type, simultaneous measurement of its chemical state. Atomic-scale imaging emerged in the mid-1950s and has been advancing rapidly ever since—so much so, that back  in 2008 , physicists successfully used an electron microscope to image a single hydrogen atom. Five years later , scientists were able to peer inside a hydrogen atom using a " quantum microscope ," resulting in the first direct observation of electron orbitals. And now we have the first ... [Read More]

May 30th, 2023 - A nuclear reaction experiment provides a glimpse at what is going on when neutron stars consume nearby companion stars. Neutron stars are among the densest objects in the universe, reaching several times the mass of our Sun, but little more than 20 kilometres in diameter. One teaspoon of a neutron star's material would weigh as much as a mountain. Their immense gravitational pull will suck in material from other cosmic objects that venture too close. This process can strip hydrogen and helium ... [Read More]

May 30th, 2023 - Unprecedented Transmission Speeds – Scientists Develop New Quantum Key Distribution System Integrated photonics-based quantum key distribution system paves the way for network deployment. Scientists have crafted a quantum key distribution (QKD) system rooted in integrated photonics, allowing for the transmission secure keys at unprecedented speeds These initial, proof-of-concept experiments serve as a significant stride towards the practical deployment of this highly secure communication ... [Read More]

May 30th, 2023 - Atoms in a crystal form a regular lattice, in which they can move over small distances from their equilibrium positions. Such phonon excitations are represented by quantum states. A superposition of phonon states defines a so-called phonon wavepacket, which is connected with collective coherent oscillations of the atoms in the crystal. Coherent phonons can be generated by excitation of the crystal with a femtosecond light pulse, and their motions in space and time can be followed by scattering ... [Read More]

May 30th, 2023 - Physicists have long puzzled over why there is more matter in the Universe than its flipped twin, antimatter . Without this imbalance, the two types of material would have canceled out , leaving nothing but a boring glow in the vast emptiness of space. Somehow, at some point, something changed in the way the Universe works on a fundamental level, favoring the mirrored state – or parity – of one kind of 'stuff' over the other. Scientists have sought clues to this critical moment in ... [Read More]

May 30th, 2023 - The research team of the State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy at East China Normal University has made significant progress in the field of ultra-fast laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technology. The team has recently proposed groundbreaking plasma-grating induced breakdown spectroscopy (GIBS) and multidimensional plasma grating induced breakdown spectroscopy (MIBS) techniques, ascertaining that these novel methods exhibit heightened levels of sensitivity to the traditionally ... [Read More]

May 30th, 2023 - TOPICS: Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory successfully used the world's most powerful laser to simulate and study pressure-driven ionization, a process vital to understanding the structure of planets and stars. The research revealed unexpected properties of extremely compressed matter and has significant implications for both astrophysics and nuclear fusion research. Scientists have conducted laboratory experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) that provide ... [Read More]

May 30th, 2023 - A pollen grain showing the nanofoam within or a diatom with the individual geometric structures inside clearly visible: Using high-energy X-rays from the PETRA III synchrotron light source at DESY, a team led by CFEL scientists Saša Bajt and Henry Chapman has managed to image these structures without damaging them. Their new technique generates high resolution X-ray images of dried biological material that has not been frozen, coated, or otherwise altered beforehand—all with little ... [Read More]

May 29th, 2023 - For the first time since the discovery of the Higgs boson made international headlines in 2012, physicists have witnessed the Higgs boson decay into a Z boson and a photon. The observations, part of the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN 's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on the French-Swiss border, may provide indirect evidence for particles beyond those predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. Higgs bosons are the quantum excitation of the Higgs field which interacts with other ... [Read More]

May 29th, 2023 - A study led by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory could uncover new ways to produce more powerful, longer-lasting batteries and memory devices. The research examines the causes behind the ordering, or pattern formation , of ions that carry a positive charge , also called cations, in double perovskite oxides, a type of metal considered promising as a potential source of cleaner, more sustainable energy for its magnetism and ability to conduct electricity. The ... [Read More]

May 28th, 2023 - For their latest magic trick, physicists have done the quantum equivalent of conjuring energy out of thin air. It's a feat that seems to fly in the face of physical law and common sense. "You can't extract energy directly from the vacuum because there's nothing there to give," said William Unruh , a theoretical physicist at the University of British Columbia, describing the standard way of thinking. Original story reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine , an editorially independent ... [Read More]

May 28th, 2023 - What happens if dark-matter particles are produced inside a jet of Standard-Model particles? This leads to a novel detector signature known as semi-visible jets! The ATLAS Collaboration has come up with the first search for semi-visible jets, looking for them in a general production mode where two protons interact by exchanging an intermediate particle, which is then converted into two jets. The elusive nature of dark matter remains one of the biggest mysteries in particle physics. Most of the ... [Read More]