When it comes to optical fibers, the underground optical cables that transmit tons of information at a time are more familiar to us. Few would ever associate optical fibers with earthquake detection. Recently, researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) successfully developed a Distributed Acoustic/Vibration Sensing (DAS/DVS) system with independent intellectual property rights. Taking advantage of the existing communication optical cables, this system can be applied to earthquake detection,…

Heavily enriched… The discovery of isotopes in the early 20th century marked a key moment in the history of physics and led to a much more refined understanding of the atomic nucleus. Isotopes are ‘versions’ of a given element of the periodic table that bear the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons, and therefore vary in mass. These differences in mass can radically alter certain physical properties of the atoms, such as their radioactive decay rates,…

In a study recently published in Nature Nanotechnology, a research group led by Prof. Du Haifeng and Dr. Tang Jin from High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), reported a scientific breakthrough after they found skyrmion bundles, a new family member of topological magnetic structures. With the help of Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (Lorentz-TEM), the research group clarified, for the first time, a type of magnetic quasiparticles with arbitrary topological charges Q, and then further realized current driven dynamic motion…

With precise mass measurements and highly accurate calculations, a team led by MPI for Nuclear Physics has now succeeded in independently testing the accuracy of an important method of neutrino physics, cryogenic microcalorimetry. The most precise measurements are required to determine the properties of neutrinos – those extremely light ghost particles that penetrate matter almost unhindered. How heavy are neutrinos? According to the standard model of elementary particle physics, they are massless, but since the discovery of neutrino oscillations (Nobel…

University of Michigan researchers use Frontera supercomputer to improve space weather forecasting system, avoid worst effects of extreme events. “There are only two natural disasters that could impact the entire U.S.,” according to Gabor Toth, professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. “One is a pandemic and the other is an extreme space weather event.” We’re currently seeing the effects of the first in real-time. The last major space weather event struck the Earth in…

Part of the optimisation strategy experimentally confirmed / energy losses of the plasma reduced. One of the most important optimisation goals underlying the Wendelstein 7-X fusion device at Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Greifswald has now been confirmed. An analysis by IPP scientists in the journal Nature shows: In the optimised magnetic field cage, the energy losses of the plasma are reduced in the desired way. Wendelstein 7-X is intended to prove that the disadvantages of earlier…

A new way to probe exotic matter aids the study of atomic and particle physics. Physicists have created a new way to observe details about the structure and composition of materials that improves upon previous methods. Conventional spectroscopy changes the frequency of light shining on a sample over time to reveal details about them. The new technique, Rabi-oscillation spectroscopy, does not need to explore a wide frequency range so can operate much more quickly. This method could be used to…

Through the looking glass… In a new study based on the theoretical computation of atomic structures, researchers determine the mechanisms of ion diffusion in phosphate glass. Phosphate glass is a versatile compound that has generated interest for its use in fuel cells and as biomaterials for supplying therapeutic ions. P2O5–the compound that forms the structural network of phosphate glass, is made up of phosphorus, an element that can adopt many different bonding configurations in combination with oxygen. The physicochemical properties…

Combined theoretical and experimental work provides general quantitative limits to light–matter coupling in nanophotonic devices. The interplay between light and matter encompasses a stunning spectrum of phenomena, from photosynthesis to the captivating colours of rainbows and butterfly wings. Diverse as these manifestations may be, they involve very weak light–matter coupling — in essence, light interacts with the material system but does not change its basic properties. A distinctively different set of phenomena arises, however, for systems that are artifically engineered…

Using a sensor film to monitor how well aircraft and spacecraft withstand the mechanical stresses of flight: Würzburg researchers have received a prize for this idea, which comes with a lot of money. There is great joy at the Chair of Aerospace Information Technology: Alexander Hilgarth and Professor Sergio Montenegro were successful in the international INNOspace Masters competition. They won second prize with their idea for a sensor film that can be applied to the components of aerospace vehicles and…

A new type of atomic sensor made of boron nitride is presented by researchers in “Nature Communications”. The sensor is based on a qubit in the crystal lattice and is superior to comparable sensors. An artificially created spin defect (qubit) in a crystal lattice of boron nitride is suitable as a sensor enabling the measurement of different changes in its local environment. The qubit is a boron vacancy located in a two-dimensional layer of hexagonal boron nitride and has an…

Brain-inspired electronics are the subject of intense research. Scientists from CNRS and the Ecole Normale Supérieure – PSL have theorized how to develop artificial neurons using, as nerve cells, ions to carry the information. Their work, published in Science on 6 August 2021, reports that devices made of a single layer of water transporting ions within graphene nanoslits have the same transmission capacity as a neuron. With an energy consumption equivalent to two bananas per day, the human brain can…

Emergent magnetic monopoles are observed in a class of magnetic materials called spin ices. However, the atomic scales and required low temperatures for their stability limit their controllability. This led to the development of 2D artificial spin ice, where the single atomic moments are replaced by magnetic nano-islands arranged on different lattices. The up-scaling allowed the study of emergent magnetic monopoles on more accessible platforms. Reversing the magnetic orientation of specific nano-islands propagates the monopoles one vertex further, leaving a…

Study demonstrates a long-predicted process for generating matter directly from light — plus evidence that magnetism can bend polarized photons along different paths in a vacuum. Scientists studying particle collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)—a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility for nuclear physics research at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory—have produced definitive evidence for two physics phenomena predicted more than 80 years ago. The results were derived from a detailed analysis of more than 6,000 pairs of…

Understanding the Sun’s magnetic dynamo could help predict solar weather. Scientists in Australia and in the USA have solved a long-standing mystery about the Sun that could help astronomers predict space weather and help us prepare for potentially devastating geomagnetic storms if they were to hit Earth. The Sun’s internal magnetic field is directly responsible for space weather – streams of high-energy particles from the Sun that can be triggered by solar flares, sunspots or coronal mass ejections that produce…

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have linked together, or “entangled,” the mechanical motion and electronic properties of a tiny blue crystal, giving it a quantum edge in measuring electric fields with record sensitivity that may enhance understanding of the universe. The quantum sensor consists of 150 beryllium ions (electrically charged atoms) confined in a magnetic field, so they self-arrange into a flat 2D crystal just 200 millionths of a meter in diameter. Quantum sensors such…