While telescope alignment continues, Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is still in cooldown mode. MIRI, which will be the coldest of Webb’s four instruments, is the only instrument that will be actively cooled by a cryogenic refrigerator, or cryocooler. This cryocooler uses helium gas to carry heat from MIRI’s optics and detectors out to the warm side of the sunshield. To manage the cooldown process, MIRI also has heaters onboard, to protect its sensitive components from the risk of ice forming. The Webb…

Quantum bits (qubits) are the smallest units of information in a quantum computer. Currently, one of the biggest challenges in developing this kind of powerful computer is scalability. A research group at the University of Basel, working with the IBM Research Laboratory in Rüschlikon, has made a breakthrough in this area. Quantum computers promise unprecedented computing power, but to date prototypes have been based on just a handful of computing units. Exploiting the potential of this new generation of computers…

Two teams of physicists led by Peter Zoller and Thomas Monz at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, have designed the first programmable quantum sensor, and tested it in the laboratory. To do so they applied techniques from quantum information processing to a measurement problem. The innovative method promises quantum sensors whose precision reaches close to the limit set by the laws of nature. Atomic clocks are the best sensors mankind has ever built. Today, they can be found in national…

Researchers develop a 2D tomography technique that will enable the search for Mach waves in the smallest droplets of quark-gluon plasma. The Science Nuclear scientists create the hottest matter in the universe by colliding nuclei at almost the speed of light. At such high temperatures, almost a million times hotter than the Sun, nuclear matter melts into a soup of subatomic particles called quarks and gluons. This quark-gluon plasma has almost no resistance to flow, making it the world’s most perfect…

Scientists from the University of Warsaw, the Military University of Technology and the University of Southampton presented a new type of tunable microlaser emitting two beams. – These beams are polarized circularly and directed at different angles – says prof. Jacek Szczytko from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw. This achievement was obtained by creating the so-called a persistent-spin helix on the surface of the microcavity. The results have been published in “Physical Review Applied”. To achieve…

The effect of strain and pressure on the electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity in MgB2—Benchmark of theoretical methodologies and outlook for nanostructure design. Researchers at Linköping University have, by way of a number of theoretical calculations, shown that magnesium diboride becomes superconductive at a higher temperature when it is stretched. The discovery is a big step toward finding superconductive materials that are useful in real-world situations. “Magnesiumdiboride or MgB2 is an interesting material. It’s a hard material that is used for…

Combining engineered flaps with other structures inspired by seagull wings improves lift, reduces stalling in wind energy turbine blades. Wind energy relies on efficient wind turbine blades, which act as airfoils, structures akin to an airplane wing. Air flow control accessories similar to those found in aircraft improve the turbine blade’s aerodynamic performance. In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, by AIP Publishing, scientists from China show a bionic approach combining features of a seagull’s wing with an engineered…

Microchips with tiny clocks may hold key to future of computing security. It’s fairly reasonable to assume that an encrypted email can’t be seen by prying eyes. That’s because in order to break through most of the encryption systems we use on a day-to-day basis, unless you are the intended recipient, you’d need the answer to a mathematical problem that’s nearly impossible for a computer to solve in a reasonable amount of time. Nearly impossible for modern-day computers, at least….

A team of scientists has predicted the science return from one of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s groundbreaking planned surveys, which will analyze millions of galaxies strewn across space and time. The mission’s enormous, deep panoramas will provide the best opportunity yet to discern between the leading theories about what’s speeding up the universe’s expansion. Roman will explore this mystery using multiple methods, including spectroscopy – the study of the color information in light. This technique will allow scientists…

Attosecond laser pulses in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) are a unique tool enabling the observation and control of electron dynamics in atoms, molecules, and solids. Most attosecond laser sources operate at a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz (1000 shots per second), which limits their usefulness in complex experiments. Using a high power laser system developed at MBI we have managed to generate attosecond pulses at 100 kHz repetition rate. This enables new types of experiments in attosecond science. Light…

A UNIGE team has succeeded in storing a quantum bit for 20 milliseconds. A duration that had never before been achieved by a solid-state quantum memory. Computers, smartphones, GPS: quantum physics has enabled many technological advances. It is now opening up new fields of research in cryptography (the art of coding messages) with the aim of developing ultra-secure telecommunications networks. There is one obstacle, however: after a few hundred kilometers within an optical fiber, the photons that carry the qubits…

If a Tyrannosaurus Rex living 66 million years ago featured a similar leg structure as an ostrich running in the savanna today, then we can assume bird legs stood the test of time – a good example of evolutionary selection. Graceful, elegant, powerful – flightless birds like the ostrich are a mechanical wonder. Ostriches, some of which weigh over 100kg, run through the savanna at up to 55km/h. The ostriches outstanding locomotor performance is thought to be enabled by the…

Stampede2, Frontera simulations model plate tectonics of bend in seamount chain. The Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain spans almost four thousand miles from the Hawaiian Islands to the Detroit Seamount in the north Pacific, an L- shaped chain that goes west then abruptly north. The 60-degree bend in the line of mostly undersea mountains and volcanic islands has puzzled scientists since it was first identified in the 1940s from the data of numerous echo sounding ships. A team of scientists have now…

Magnetic interactions could point to miniaturizable quantum devices. From MRI machines to computer hard disk storage, magnetism has played a role in pivotal discoveries that reshape our society. In the new field of quantum computing, magnetic interactions could play a role in relaying quantum information. In new research from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, scientists have achieved efficient quantum coupling between two distant magnetic devices, which can host a certain type of magnetic excitations called magnons….

Findings could have implications for our understanding of distant, water-rich planets. UNLV researchers have discovered a new form of ice, redefining the properties of water at high pressures. Solid water, or ice, is like many other materials in that it can form different solid materials based on variable temperature and pressure conditions, like carbon forming diamond or graphite. However, water is exceptional in this aspect as there are at least 20 solid forms of ice known to us. A team…

RIXS at BESSY II allows to see clearly. Many (organic) molecules exist as a mixture of two almost identical molecules, with the same molecular formula but one important difference: A single hydrogen atom sits in a different position. The two isomeric forms transform into each other, creating a delicate equilibrium, a “tautomeric” mixture. Many amino acids are tautomeric mixtures, and since they are building blocks of proteins, they may influence their shape and function and thus their biological functions in…