Physics
Scientists moving 15-ton magnet from N.Y. to Chicago
June 17, 2013 6:20 pm | by Frank Eltman, Associated Press | News | Comments
Scientists on Long Island are preparing to move a 50-foot-wide electromagnet 3,200 miles over land and sea to its new home at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. The trip, starting at Brookhaven National Laboratory, is expected to take more than a month.
Scientists moving 15-ton magnet from N.Y. to Chicago
June 17, 2013 6:20 pm | by Frank Eltman, Associated Press | News | Comments
Scientists on Long Island are preparing to move a 50-foot-wide electromagnet 3,200...
Simple theory may explain mysterious dark matter
June 10, 2013 3:54 pm | News | Comments
Most of the matter in the universe may be made out of particles that possess an...
New model explains mysterious effects in high-temperature superconductors
June 7, 2013 12:16 pm | News | Comments
In the superconducting state, electrons travel in so-called Cooper pairs through the...
A new high-energy record for LCLS
June 18, 2013 11:25 am | News | CommentsJohn Hill, a Brookhaven National Laboratory scientist, and his team watched with eager anticipation as controllers ramped up the power systems driving SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's x-ray laser in an attempt to achieve the record high energies needed to make his experiment a runaway success. To reach the high x-ray energies they were aiming for, all of the 80 klystrons associated with LCLS would need to operate at near-peak levels.
New method helps distinguish between neighboring quantum bits
June 18, 2013 10:42 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the Univ. of New South Wales have proposed a new way to distinguish between quantum bits that are placed only a few nanometers apart in a silicon chip, taking them a step closer to the construction of a large-scale quantum computer.
Scientists capture crystallization of materials in nanoseconds
June 13, 2013 10:16 am | News | CommentsLawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers, for the first time, have created movies of irreversible reactions that occur too rapidly to capture with conventional microscopy. The team used multiframe, nanosecond-scale imaging in the dynamic transmission electron microscope to create movies of the crystallization of phase-change materials used for optical and resistive memory.
Unfrozen mystery: Water reveals a new secret
June 11, 2013 8:36 am | News | CommentsA collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers and a team led by the Carnegie Institution for Science's Malcolm Guthrie has led to discoveries about how ice behaves under pressure, changing ideas that date back almost 50 years. The findings could alter scientists' understanding of how the water molecule responds to conditions found deep within planets and could have implications for energy science.
New experiment opens window on glasses
June 10, 2013 8:25 am | News | CommentsFor the first time, scientists have mapped the structure of a metallic glass on the atomic scale, bringing them closer to understanding where the liquid ends and the solid begins in glassy materials. A study led by Monash Univ. researchers has used a newly developed technique on one of the world’s highest-resolution electron microscopes to understand the structure of a zirconium-based metallic glass.
Quantum teleportation demonstrated between atomic systems
June 6, 2013 2:34 pm | News | CommentsResearchers have been able to teleport information from light to light at a quantum level for several years. Now, a research group at the Niels Bohr Institute has succeeded in teleporting information between two clouds of gas atoms and to carry out the teleportation—not just one or a few times, but successfully every single time.
Study suggests second life for possible spintronic materials
June 6, 2013 11:01 am | News | CommentsTen years ago, scientists were convinced that a combination of manganese and gallium nitride could be a key material to create spintronics, the next generation of electronic devices that operate on properties found at the nanoscale. But researchers grew discouraged when experiments indicated that the two materials were as harmonious as oil and water. A new study suggests that scientists should take another look at this materials duo.
Observation of spin Hall effect in quantum gas is step toward "atomtronics"
June 6, 2013 8:20 am | News | CommentsResearchers at NIST have reported the first observation of the spin Hall effect in a Bose-Einstein condensate, a cloud of ultracold atoms acting as a single quantum object. As one consequence, they made the atoms, which spin like a child's top, skew to one side or the other, by an amount dependent on the spin direction. The phenomenon is a step toward applications in "atomtronics".
Resistivity switch is window to role of magnetism in iron-based superconductors
June 5, 2013 2:29 pm | News | CommentsPhysicists at the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Ames Laboratory have discovered surprising changes in electrical resistivity in iron-based superconductors. The findings offer further evidence that magnetism and superconductivity are closely related in this class of novel superconductors.
“Temporal cloaking” could bring more secure optical communications
June 5, 2013 12:08 pm | News | CommentsPurdue Univ. researchers have demonstrated a method for "temporal cloaking" of optical communications, representing a potential tool to thwart would-be eavesdroppers and improve security for telecommunications. While the previous research in temporal cloaking required the use of a complex, ultrafast-pulsing "femtosecond" laser, the researchers achieved the feat using off-the-shelf equipment.
Spintronics approach enables new quantum technologies
June 4, 2013 4:12 pm | News | CommentsA team of researchers, including members of the Univ. of Chicago, highlight the power of emerging quantum technologies in two recently published papers. These technologies exploit quantum mechanics, the physics that dominates the atomic world, to perform disparate tasks such as nanoscale temperature measurement and processing quantum information with lasers.
Long-lasting ancient concrete had a small carbon footprint
June 4, 2013 12:55 pm | News | CommentsAt the Advanced Light Source, scientists analyzed samples from a Roman breakwater that has been submerged in the Bay of Naples for over two millennia, revealing the secrets of crystal chemistry that allow Roman seawater concrete to resist chemical attack and wave action for centuries. The manufacture of extraordinarily durable Roman maritime concrete released much less carbon than most modern concrete does today.
Quantum model helps solve mysteries of water
June 4, 2013 12:16 pm | News | CommentsWater is one of the most common and extensively studied substances on Earth. It is vital for all known forms of life but its unique behavior has yet to be explained in terms of the properties of individual molecules. A research team has now revealed a major breakthrough in the modeling of water that could shed light on its mysterious properties.
NUS uses JPK Instruments’ optical tweezers
June 4, 2013 8:37 am | News | CommentsJPK Instruments reports on the Yan Jie single-molecule biophysics research group at the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) of the National Univ. of Singapore (NUS) and their use of optical tweezers. The MBI of the NUS was created through joint funding by the National Research Foundation and the Ministry of Education with the goal of creating a new research center in mechanobiology to benefit both the discipline and Singapore.
Crash-testing lithium-ion batteries
June 4, 2013 8:06 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsLithium-ion batteries are lightweight, fully rechargeable and can pack a lot of energy into a small volume—making them attractive as power sources for hybrid and electric vehicles. However, there’s a significant downside: Overheating and collisions may cause the batteries to short-circuit and burst into flames. Engineers have worked to improve the safety of lithium-ion batteries and now there may be ways to make batteries more resilient.
Researchers discover artificial magnetic monopoles
May 31, 2013 11:13 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers from Cologne, Munich and Dresden have managed to create artificial magnetic monopoles. To do this, the scientists merged tiny magnetic whirls, so-called skyrmions. At the point of merging, the physicists were able to create a monopole, which has similar characteristics to a fundamental particle postulated by Paul Dirac in 1931. In addition to fundamental research, the monopoles may also have application potential.
Mathematical model links space-time theories
May 30, 2013 10:03 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the University of Southampton have taken a significant step in a project to unravel the secrets of the structure of our universe. A recently published paper by the team makes connections between negatively curved space-time and flat space-time.
Physicists further understanding of superconductivity
May 28, 2013 7:50 am | News | CommentsPhysicists at the University of Arkansas have collaborated with scientists in the United States and Asia to discover that a crucial ingredient of high-temperature superconductivity could be found in an entirely different class of materials. The team found that the way electrons form in superconductive material—known as the Zhang-Rice singlet state—was present in a chemical compound that is very different from conventional superconductors.
How do cold ions slide?
May 28, 2013 7:47 am | News | CommentsWhen an object slides on another, the advancement may occur through a “stop and go” series in the characteristic manner which scientists call "stick-slip", a pervasive phenomenon at every scale. Researchers in Italy have studied and gained on the conditions in which, at the nanoscopic level, the switch from smooth sliding to stick-slip regime occurs, simulating the “toy-like” systems of “cold ions”.
The formula for turning cement into metal
May 28, 2013 7:27 am | News | CommentsIn a move that would make the alchemists of King Arthur’s time green with envy, scientists have unraveled the formula for turning liquid cement into liquid metal. This makes cement a semiconductor and opens up its use in the profitable consumer electronics marketplace for thin films, protective coatings, and computer chips.
Scientists build record-setting metamaterial flat lens
May 24, 2013 10:20 am | News | CommentsFor the first time, scientists working NIST have demonstrated a new type of lens that bends and focuses ultraviolet light in a way that it can create ghostly, 3D images of objects that float in free space. The easy-to-build lens could lead to improved photolithography, nanoscale manipulation and manufacturing, and even high-resolution 3D imaging, as well as a number of as-yet-unimagined applications in a diverse range of fields.
Balance is key to making quantum-dot solar cells work
May 24, 2013 7:53 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsThere has been great interest in using quantum dots to produce low-cost, easily manufactured, stable photovoltaic cells. But, so far, the creation of such cells has been limited by the fact that in practice, quantum dots are not as good at conducting an electric charge as they are in theory. Something in the physical structure of these cells seems to trap their electric-charge carriers. Now researchers may have found the key.
Crystals melt when they're cooled
May 23, 2013 8:57 am | News | CommentsGrowing thin films out of nanoparticles in ordered, crystalline sheets would be a boon for materials researchers, but the physics is tricky because particles of that size don’t form crystals the way individual atoms do. Using bigger particles as models, physicists have predicted some unusual properties of nanoparticle crystal growth.
Theorists weigh in on where to hunt dark matter
May 22, 2013 11:26 am | News | CommentsNow that it looks like the hunt for the Higgs boson is over, particles of dark matter are at the top of the physics "Most Wanted" list. Dozens of experiments have been searching for them, but often come up with contradictory results. Theorists from the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology believe they've come up with an algorithm that could help narrow the search for these elusive particles.
Soft matter offers way to study arrangement of ordered materials
May 21, 2013 7:46 am | News | CommentsA fried breakfast food popular in Spain provided the inspiration for the development of doughnut-shaped droplets that may provide scientists with a new approach for studying fundamental issues in physics, mathematics, and materials. The doughnut-shaped droplets, a shape known as toroidal, are formed from two dissimilar liquids using a simple rotating stage and an injection needle.
