An international team has reported in Nature the first observation of ghost polaritons, which are a new form of surface waves carrying nanoscale light strongly coupled with material oscillations and featuring highly collimated propagation properties. The research team observed these phenomena over a common material – calcite – and showed how ghost polaritons can facilitate a superior control of infrared nano-light for sensing, signal processing, energy harvesting and other technologies. In recent years, nanophotonics at infrared and terahertz frequencies has…

A team studied some of the smallest particles in the Universe on the nation’s fastest computer, Summit at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Science Scientists use particle accelerators to speed up electrically charged particles to nearly the speed of light. They then smash those particles together to study the new particles that form, including quarks. However, free quarks cannot be directly observed in isolation due to color confinement. This phenomenon means certain particles, including quarks and gluons, cannot be isolated….

LSU Quantum researchers rearrange photon distribution to create different light sources. For decades, scholars have believed that the quantum statistical properties of bosons are preserved in plasmonic systems, and therefore will not create different form of light. This rapidly growing field of research focuses on quantum properties of light and its interaction with matter at the nanoscale level. Stimulated by experimental work in the possibility of preserving nonclassical correlations in light-matter interactions mediated by scattering of photons and plasmons, it…

The analogy between the behaviour of different quantum particles which have the same quantum nature is one of the most fascinating aspects of science. A simple but prominent example is the analogy between the behaviour of electrons (fermions) in a one-dimensional metal and spinons (fermions) in a one-dimensional quantum magnet. But, what are spinons? It is generally known that magnetic fluctuations in conventional magnets can be seen as a wave of deflection of the magnetic moments out of the equilibrium….

System consisting of two Penning traps connected to an electrical resonant circuit transmits the cooling power of laser-cooled ions. For the first time, physicists have succeeded in successfully realizing a new method for cooling protons using laser-cooled ions – in this case beryllium ions. The innovative feature of the new system is that the two particle types are located in spatially separated traps. This means it is now possible to provide the cooling effect with the help of an electrical…

A beam of light can only be seen when it hits matter particles and is scattered or reflected by them. In a vacuum, however, it is invisible. Physicists at the University of Bonn have now developed a method that allows laser beams to be visualized even under these conditions. A beam of light can only be seen when it hits matter particles and is scattered or reflected by them. In a vacuum, however, it is invisible. Physicists at the University…

Combining exceptional crystal-growing skills with theoretical predictions, University of Texas at Dallas scientists and their collaborators have revealed new insights into materials called topological insulators. Topological insulators (TIs) behave like insulators in their interiors but are conductors on their exteriors. There are distinctive families of topological insulators: strong TIs, which are common in nature; weak TIs, which are rare and difficult to produce in the lab; and another rare class called higher-order TIs. In a cube-shaped, strong topological insulator, for example,…

Rice-led team toggles side- and edge-conduction states in bismuth iodide crystals. A Rice University team and its collaborators have discovered a room-temperature transition between 1D and 2D electrical conduction states in topological crystals of bismuth and iodine. Researchers found they could toggle the material, crystalline chains of bismuth iodide (Bi4I4), between low- and high-order conduction states at a transition temperature around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The research is available online this week in the American Physical Society journal Physical Review X and was conducted by physicists…

Understanding how electrons move in 2-D layered material systems could lead to advances in quantum computing and communication. Scientists studying two different configurations of bilayer graphene—the two-dimensional (2-D), atom-thin form of carbon—have detected electronic and optical interlayer resonances. In these resonant states, electrons bounce back and forth between the two atomic planes in the 2-D interface at the same frequency. By characterizing these states, they found that twisting one of the graphene layers by 30 degrees relative to the other,…

In 2019, astronomers spotted something incredible in our backyard: a rogue comet from another star system. Named Borisov, the icy snowball traveled 110,000 miles per hour and marked the first and only interstellar comet ever detected by humans. But what if these interstellar visitors—comets, meteors, asteroids and other debris from beyond our solar system—are more common than we think? In a new study published Monday in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomers Amir Siraj and Avi Loeb at the Center for…

Physicists are like bees — they can cross-pollinate, taking ideas from one area and using them to develop breakthroughs in other areas. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have transferred a technique from one realm of plasma physics to another to enable the more efficient design of powerful magnets for doughnut-shaped fusion facilities known as tokamaks. Such magnets confine and control plasma, the fourth state of matter that makes up 99 percent of…

TU Dresden researchers develop an implantable AI system. TU Dresden scientists at the Chair of Optoelectronics have succeeded for the first time in developing a bio-compatible implantable AI platform that classifies in real time healthy and pathological patterns in biological signals such as heartbeats. It detects pathological changes even without medical supervision. The research results have now been published in the journal ‘Science Advances’. Artificial intelligence (AI) will fundamentally change medicine and healthcare: Diagnostic patient data, e.g. from ECG, EEG…

Quantum matter can be solid and fluid at the same time – a situation known as supersolidity. Researchers led by Francesca Ferlaino have now created for the first time this fascinating property along two dimensions. They now report in the journal Nature on the realization of supersolidity along two axes of an ultracold quantum gas. The experiment offers many possibilities for further investigation of this exotic state of matter. Quantum gases are very well suited for investigating the microscopic consequences…

Study led by the University of Bonn finds evidence of a long-sought effect in CERN data. An international study led by the University of Bonn has found evidence of a long-sought effect in accelerator data. The so-called “triangle singularity” describes how particles can change their identities by exchanging quarks, thereby mimicking a new particle. The mechanism also provides new insights into a mystery that has long puzzled particle physicists: Protons, neutrons and many other particles are much heavier than one…

First model to show how gas flows across universe into a supermassive black hole’s center. Galaxies’ spiral arms are responsible for scooping up gas to feed to their central supermassive black holes, according to a new high-powered simulation. Started at Northwestern University, the simulation is the first to show, in great detail, how gas flows across the universe all the way down to the center of a supermassive black hole. While other simulations have modeled black hole growth, this is…

Free electron laser insight… Recent research reveals a fundamental process of free electron lasing, opening new directions for the study and exploitation of laser-beam interactions. Free electron lasers (FELs) generate short-wavelength radiation with extreme brilliance on ultrafast timescales. Developed over the past three decades, FELs provide an important research tool for physics, biology, chemistry, and other areas. Unlike other synchrotron light sources, the amplification of FEL pulses comes from strong and continuous interaction of electromagnetic waves and relativistic electron beams…