Physics News

October 30, 2016

Physicists Create Best Ever Quantum Clones

Unusual Quantum Liquid May Inspire Electronics

Clean Energy: New Record for Fusion

Quantum Computers: 10-Fold Boost in Stability

Latest Headlines

updated 10:48pm EDT

Nickel-78 Is a 'Doubly Magic' Isotope, Supercomputing Calculations Confirm

Oct. 26, 2016 — Theoretical physicists recently used Titan, America’s most powerful supercomputer, to compute the nuclear structure of nickel-78 and found that this neutron-rich nucleus is ... read more

A Disappearing Feast: Mean Flows Remain Slim After Eating Eddies

Oct. 27, 2016 — Magnetic confinement fusion holds the promise of almost limitless amounts of energy, available on demand and producing zero carbon dioxide. But in order to harness that ... read more

When It Comes to Atomic-Scale Manufacturing, Less Really Is More

Oct. 28, 2016 — Electrical currents can be now be switched on and off at the smallest conceivable scale enabling a new generation of 'green electronics' with the potential for great impact ... read more

A Tiny Machine: Infinitesimal Computing Device

Oct. 28, 2016 — Electrical and computer engineers have developed a design for a functional nanoscale computing device. The concept involves a dense, three-dimensional circuit operating on an unconventional type of ... read more

Supersonic Phenomena, the Key to Extremely Low Heat Loss Nano-Electronics

Oct. 25, 2016 — Supersonic solitary waves in nano-electronics crystals show potentials for electric charge or matter transport and energy storage with extremely low heat dissipation, explain ... read more

New Technique Reveals Powerful, 'Patchy' Approach to Nanoparticle Synthesis

Oct. 28, 2016 — Patches of chain-like molecules placed across nanoscale particles can radically transform the optical, electronic, and magnetic properties of particle-based materials. Now, ... read more

Making Silicon-Germanium Core Fibers a Reality

Oct. 25, 2016 — Glass fibers do everything from connecting us to the internet to enabling keyhole surgery by delivering light through medical devices such as endoscopes. But as versatile as ... read more

Gamma Ray Camera Offers New View on Ultra-High Energy Electrons in Plasma

Oct. 28, 2016 — A new kind of gamma ray camera has been invented that can image beams of energetic electrons inside ultra-hot fusion plasma, ... read more

Launching Fusion Reactions Without a Central Magnet, or Solenoid

Oct. 28, 2016 — The tokamak is an experimental chamber that holds a gas of energetic charged particles, plasma, for developing energy production from nuclear fusion. Most large tokamaks ... read more

Steering a Fusion Plasma Toward Stability

Oct. 28, 2016 — Plasmas in fusion-energy producing devices are gases heated to millions of degrees that can carry millions of amperes of current. These superhot plasmas must be kept away ... read more

Fusion Project Construction Kicks Into Gear as Costs Balloon

Infrared Camera Reveals 'invisible' Air Pollution

Molecular Machines Drive Nobel Chemistry Prize

British Trio Win Nobel Physics Prize for Exotic Matter Research

Turbulent Solution to a Growing Problem

Oct. 28, 2016 — Plasma turbulence, the wildly fluctuating pattern of particle motion, is a concern for fusion energy devices because it allows heat to escape the plasma. However, an even more serious concern is ... read more

Breakthrough in Z-Pinch Implosion Stability Opens New Path to Fusion

Oct. 28, 2016 — Researchers have demonstrated improved control over and understanding of implosions in a Z-pinch, a particular type of magneto-inertial device that relies on the Lorentz force to compress plasma to ... read more

Extinguishing a Fusion Fire in a Flash of Light

Oct. 28, 2016 — Fusion energy researchers have discovered that they can rapidly extinguish and cool a magnetically confined fusion plasma hotter than the center of the sun by injecting a large quantity of neon gas ... read more

General Atomics Breakthrough Enables Greater Control of Fusion Energy

Oct. 28, 2016 — An important new tool has been created for controlling fusion plasmas that are hotter than the sun. Changing the way the current system operates is a significant effort, considering the size and ... read more

Scientists Measure How Ions Bombard Fusion Device Walls

Oct. 28, 2016 — For the first time, researchers have directly measured the complicated 3D patterns of flowing plasma as it strikes the walls of fusion and space propulsion ... read more

Controlling the Properties of Matter in Two-Dimensional Crystals

Oct. 27, 2016 — The discovery of chains of atoms in a two-dimensional crystal could help researchers control the properties of ... read more

How Often Do Quantum Systems Violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics?

Oct. 25, 2016 — The likelihood of seeing quantum systems violating the second law of thermodynamics has been calculated by scientists. The team determined a more precise version of a basic law of physics - which ... read more

Splitting Disulphide Bonds in Water Is More Complicated Than Previously Thought

Oct. 25, 2016 — From a chemical perspective, splitting disulphide bonds under tensile stress is a substantially more complicated process than previously assumed. A team of researchers found out what happens in ... read more

Research Is Upgrading an Element by Stretching It

Oct. 24, 2016 — A new family of self-assembled nanomaterials capable of storing large amounts of tensile strain, without damage to the crystalline structure, is currently being developed by ... read more

The Quantum Sniffer Dog

Oct. 24, 2016 — A laser and detector in one: A microscopic sensor has been developed by researchers, which can be used to identify different gases ... read more

Flexible Optical Design Method for Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors

Oct. 24, 2016 — Experts have succeeded in the development of flexible optical design method for superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SSPDs or SNSPDs). This technique enables SSPDs with a broadband high ... read more

Non-Metal Catalyst Splits Hydrogen Molecule

Oct. 21, 2016 — Hydrogen (H2) is an extremely simple molecule and yet a valuable raw material which as a result of the development of sophisticated catalysts is becoming more and more important. In industry and ... read more

When Quantum Scale Affects the Way Atoms Emit and Absorb Particles of Light

Oct. 21, 2016 — In 1937, US physicist Isidor Rabi introduced a simple model to describe how atoms emit and absorb particles of light. Until now, this model had still not been completely explained. In a recent ... read more

New Special-Purpose Computer May Someday Save Us Billions

Oct. 21, 2016 — The processing power of standard computers is likely to reach its maximum in the next 10 to 25 years. Even at this maximum power, traditional computers won't be able to handle a particular class ... read more

Physicists Use Lasers to Capture First Snapshots of Rapid Chemical Bonds Breaking

Oct. 21, 2016 — An international team has used a molecule's own electrons to scatter the molecule — a process called mid-infrared laser-induced electron diffraction, or LIED — and capture snapshots of ... read more

Nanoantenna Lighting-Rod Effect Produces Fast Optical Switches

Oct. 21, 2016 — A fast nanoscale optical transistor has been created using gold nanoantenna assisted phase transition. The work opens up new directions in antenna-assisted switches and optical ... read more

Smashing Metallic Cubes Toughens Them Up

Oct. 20, 2016 — Scientists are smashing metallic micro-cubes to make them ultrastrong and tough by rearranging their nanostructures upon impact. The team reports that firing a tiny, nearly perfect cube of silver ... read more

Researchers Posit Way to Locally Circumvent Second Law of Thermodynamics

Oct. 20, 2016 — For more than a century and a half of physics, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that entropy always increases, has been as close to inviolable as any law we know. In this universe, ... read more

Light Speckles Having a Conversation

Oct. 20, 2016 — The amount of light passing through an opaque layer, can be enhanced using smart techniques. At the same time, the amount of reflected light diminishes, researchers show. It’s as if light speckles ... read more

It's Official: Phonon and Magnon Are a Couple

Oct. 19, 2016 — Scientists have observed, quantified and created a new theoretical model of the coupling of two forms of collective atomic excitation, known as magnons and phonons in crystals of the antiferromagnet ... read more

Friday, October 28, 2016

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Controlling the properties of matter in two-dimensional crystals

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Monday, October 24, 2016

Friday, October 21, 2016

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Monday, October 17, 2016

Friday, October 14, 2016

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Monday, October 10, 2016

Friday, October 7, 2016

Still no 'sterile' neutrinos, but the search goes on

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Monday, October 3, 2016

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Correlated magnets made out of single atoms

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Monday, September 26, 2016

Friday, September 23, 2016

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Monday, September 19, 2016

Friday, September 16, 2016

Deep insight into interfaces

Thursday, September 15, 2016