Physics News (284 articles)

Researchers describe how to carry out the first experimental test of string theory in a paper published tomorrow in Physical Review Letters.String theory was originally developed to describe the fundamental particles and forces that make up our universe. The new research, led by a team from...

Published on 1 September 2010, 13:19

Categories: String theory Quantum particles Physics Quantum entanglement Universe

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Leeds have shown how to tighten up the beam of terahertz rays (T-rays) produced from semiconductor lasers.This work is an important step towards making cheaper, compact T-ray sources that could be used for applications such as security...

Published on 9 August 2010, 06:44

Categories: Lasers Physics Semiconductor lasers T-rays Terahertz rays THz

An international team of scientists led by groups from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) in Garching, Germany, and from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley has used ultrashort flashes of laser...

Published on 4 August 2010, 14:34

Categories: Laser light Physics Electrons Atoms Valence electrons

Using clouds of ultracold atoms MPQ-LMU team of scientists makes microwave fields visible. Microwaves are an essential part of modern communication technology. Mobile phones and laptops, for example, are equipped with integrated microwave circuits for wireless communication. Sophisticated...

Published on 3 August 2010, 04:57

Categories: Atoms Microwave fields Microwaves Optics Physics SEnsors Wireless communication

Material that shows melting while cooling could lead to applications in solar cells, other devices.CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Like an ice cube on a warm day, most materials melt — that is, change from a solid to a liquid state — as they get warmer. But a few oddball materials do the reverse: They...

Published on 2 August 2010, 09:44

Categories: Silicon Materials Science Solar Energy Energy Physics

Graphene, the extraordinary form of carbon that consists of a single layer of carbon atoms, has produced another in a long list of experimental surprises. In the current issue of the journal Science, a multi-institutional team of researchers headed by Michael Crommie, a faculty senior...

Published on 29 July 2010, 14:41

Categories: Graphene Magnetic Fields Materials Science Physics Pseudo-Magnetic Fields

Fundamental physical phenomena demonstrated in Austria for the first timeIn an international first, physicists of the University of Innsbruck, Austria have experimentally observed a quantum phenomenon, where an arbitrarily weak perturbation causes atoms to build an organized structure from an...

Published on 29 July 2010, 13:03

Categories: Atoms Physics Quantum Quantum phase transitions

On a quest to discover new states of matter, a team of Princeton University scientists has found that electrons on the surface of specific materials act like miniature superheroes, relentlessly dodging the cliff-like obstacles of imperfect microsurfaces, sometimes moving straight through...

Published on 14 July 2010, 13:27

Categories: Electrons Materials Science Physics Antimony Topological insulators Metals

An ANU-led team has developed the most efficient quantum memory for light in the world, taking us closer to a future of super-fast computers and communication secured by the laws of physics.The team at the ANU Research School of Physics and Engineering used a technique they pioneered to stop...

Published on 24 June 2010, 04:45

Categories: Quantum Memory Storage Memory Storage Quantum Memory Physics Communication Computers Light Laser Quantum mechanics

Physicists produce a Bose-Einstein condensate at zero gravity - a step towards extremely sensitive quantum sensors for gravitation.A sensitive measuring device must not be dropped - because this usually destroys the precision of the instrument. A team of researchers including scientists from...

Published on 22 June 2010, 15:35

Categories: BEC Bose-Einstein condensate Gravitation Optics Physics Quantum Gas Quantum sensors

Bead formation model could be boon for plastics, pharmaceuticals.Researchers at Rice University, Purdue University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have solved a long-standing mystery about why some fluids containing polymers -- including saliva -- form beads when they are stretched...

Published on 12 June 2010, 04:27

Categories: Fluids Physics Polymers Saliva Viscoelastic fluids Viscoelasticity

Faster and lighter aircraft could be built using an incredible super-thin material just one atom thick, according to new research conducted at The University of Manchester.Writing in the journal Advanced Materials, a team of materials scientists and physicists say graphene has the potential to...

Published on 8 June 2010, 10:28

Categories: Aircraft Aircraft design Carbon fibres Graphene Materials Science Physics

Researchers unravel 25-year-old physics mystery.LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, June 3, 2010—Unconventional use of a well-known scientific instrument has helped scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and other institutions unravel a 25-year-old physics mystery...

Published on 3 June 2010, 13:58

Categories: Physics Superconducting materials Uranium Ruthenium Materials Science Heavy fermion SI-STM

Rice physicists dig theoretical wells to mine quantum dots.Graphane is the material of choice for physicists on the cutting edge of materials science, and Rice University researchers are right there with the pack – and perhaps a little ahead. Researchers mentored by Boris Yakobson, a...

Published on 25 May 2010, 11:24

Categories: Physics Graphane Quantum dots Materials Science

Batavia, Ill.—Scientists of the DZero collaboration at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced Friday, May 14, that they have found evidence for significant violation of matter-antimatter symmetry in the behavior of particles containing bottom quarks beyond...

Published on 24 May 2010, 13:20

Categories: Antimatter Asymmetry B mesons CP violation DZero Matter Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry Physics

Ultra-thin glass fiber enables the controlled coupling of light and matter / publication in Physical Review Letters.Physicists at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz  have developed a quantum interface which connects light particles and atoms. The interface is based on an ultra-thin...

Published on 21 May 2010, 02:30

Categories: Physics Light Atoms Quantum Information Quantum Communication Quantum Cryptography Nanofiber

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—At the scale of the very small, physics can get peculiar. A University of Michigan biomedical engineering professor has discovered a new instance of such a nanoscale phenomenon—one that could lead to faster, less expensive portable diagnostic devices and push back frontiers...

Published on 18 May 2010, 12:47

Categories: Nanotechnology Electrical engineering Lab on a chip Physics Nanofluidics

MPQ-LMU scientists demonstrate for the first time exotic multi-particle interactions be-tween ultracold atoms in an artificial crystal of light.At extremely low temperatures atoms can aggregate into so-called Bose Einstein condensates forming coherent laser-like matter waves. Due to interactions...

Published on 16 May 2010, 02:40

Categories: Quantum Dynamics BECs Bose-Einstein condensate Atoms Physics

New technique offers way to keep micromachines’ parts from sticking together.CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — MIT researchers have developed a powerful new tool for calculating the effects of Casimir forces, complicated quantum forces that affect only objects that are very, very close together, with...

Published on 11 May 2010, 10:06

Categories: Casimir Forces Physics Microelectromechanical systems MEMS Quantum mechanics

Researchers isolate collection of “pure” or spin polarized positronium atoms for the first time.RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Positronium is a short-lived system in which an electron and its anti-particle are bound together. In 2007, physicists at the University of California, Riverside created...

Published on 2 May 2010, 06:08

Categories: Physics Gamma Ray Lasers Gamma Ray Lasers Fusion Power Positronium Bose-Einstein condensate BEC