The question of where the boundary between classical and quantum physics lies is one of the longest-standing pursuits of modern scientific research and in new research published today, scientists demonstrate a novel platform that could help us find an answer. The laws of quantum physics govern the behaviour of particles at miniscule scales, leading to phenomena such as quantum entanglement, where the properties of entangled particles become inextricably linked in ways that cannot be explained by classical physics. Research in…

Milestone for the 4MOST project: The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) will begin shipping the 4MOST instrument to Chile on Thursday 29 February with the first large shipment. A significant milestone approaches for the 4MOST project as the Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) gears up to dispatch the first major shipment of the 4MOST instrument to Chile. On Thursday, February 29, the Cable Wrap, the largest physical subsystem of 4MOST, will commence its journey from AIP’s facilities to the…

…shapes planetary systems. Up to a certain point, very luminous stars can have a positive effect on the formation of planets, but from that point on the radiation they emit can cause the material in protoplanetary discs to disperse. Data from the James Webb Space Telescope provides new insights into how this affects the formation of planets in the Orion Nebula / publication in ‘Science’ To find out how planetary systems such as our Solar System form, an international research…

The First Protective Layer for 2D Quantum Materials. As silicon-based computer chips approach their physical limitations in the quest for faster and smaller designs, the search for alternative materials that remain functional at atomic scales is one of science’s biggest challenges. In a groundbreaking development, researchers at the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat have engineered a protective film that shields quantum semiconductor layers just one atom thick from environmental influences without compromising their revolutionary quantum properties. This puts the application…

Controlling cooperative electronic states in Kagome metals. Playing a different sound track is, physically speaking, only a minute change of the vibration spectrum, yet its impact on a dance floor is dramatic. People long for this tiny trigger, and as a salsa changes to a tango completely different collective patterns emerge.Electrons in metals tend to show only one behavior at zero temperature, when all kinetic energy is quenched. One needs to frustrate the electronic interaction to break the dominance of…

From now on, a network of 50 partner institutes will provide access to polar research infrastructures. Over the next five years, the European Union will provide 14.6 million euros in funding for the new POLARIN project (Polar Research Infrastructure Network). Slated to officially launch on 1st March 2024, the project will promote interdisciplinary research that addresses the scientific challenges in both polar regions. Use of a CTD with Kranzwassererschöpfer on board the research vessel Polarstern. Photo: Alfred-Wegener-Institut / Susann Henkel…

Data from Gemini North provide possible explanation for supermassive binary black hole’s halted merger. Nearly every massive galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its center. When two galaxies merge, their black holes can form a binary pair, meaning they are in a bound orbit with one another. It’s hypothesized that these binaries are fated to eventually merge, but this has never been observed [1]. The question of whether such an event is possible has been a topic of discussion amongst astronomers for…

Development of a new pH sensing layer successfully integrated into an ISFET. Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS announces a significant advance in chemical and biochemical analysis. The team led by Dr. Olaf R. Hild, Head of the Chemical Sensor Technology Business Unit, has successfully developed a pioneering sensing layer for chip-based pH measurement has and successfully integrated it into an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET). Simplified illustration of an ISFET with an Ag / AgCl reference electrode. © Fraunhofer IPMS…

An increasing number of seismologists are using fiber optic cables to detect seismic waves on Earth—but how would this technology fare on the Moon, and what would it tell us about the deep layers of our nearest neighbor in space? In Seismological Research Letters, Wenbo Wu of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and colleagues explore the idea of deploying a fiber seismic network on the Moon, discussing some of the challenges to overcome. They also test this hypothetical network using artificial…

The shadow of the avatar evokes embodiment and induces the experience of walking while seated, in combination with foot vibrations. Researchers at the Toyohashi University of Technology and the University of Tokyo developed a system that provides a virtual walking experience to a seated person by real-time synthesis of a walking avatar and its shadow on a 360-degree video with vibrations to the feet. The shadow of the avatar induces an illusory presence of their body. In the future, it…

A research team from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the University of Salerno in Italy has discovered that thin films of elemental bismuth exhibit the so-called non-linear Hall effect, which could be applied in technologies for the controlled use of terahertz high-frequency signals on electronic chips. Bismuth combines several advantageous properties not found in other systems to date, as the team reports in Nature Electronics (DOI: 10.1038/s41928-024-01118-y). Particularly: the quantum effect is observed at room temperature. The thin-layer films can…

The international AEgIS (Antimatter Experiment: gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) collaboration at CERN, in which Prof. Giovanni Consolati of the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology participates on behalf of the Politecnico di Milano, experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, positronium (Ps) laser cooling using a particular laser system (alexandrite-based), specifically developed to meet the requirements of cooling: high intensity, large bandwidth and long duration of the pulse. The equivalent temperature of the Ps atoms exiting from a porous target (at room…

Researchers at the University of Konstanz have successfully filmed the operations of extremely fast electronic circuitry in an electron microscope at a bandwidth of tens of terahertz. The increasing demand for ever-faster information processing has ushered in a new era of research focused on high-speed electronics operating at frequencies nearing terahertz and petahertz regimes. While existing electronic devices predominantly function in the gigahertz range, the forefront of electronics is pushing towards millimeter waves, and the first prototypes of high-speed transistors,…

Implementation of an electrostatically charged environment to accelerate lunar base construction efforts. Continuous research is being conducted globally on using the Moon as an advanced base for deep space exploration, and Korea is no exception in these efforts. The Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT, President Kim, Byung-suk) successfully implemented an electrostatic environment that simulates the Moon’s surface conditions, not in space but on Earth. The researchers also assessed its performance and effectiveness. Among the most serious…

A new data format simplifies data processing for metallic 3D printing processes. It allows manufacturing and process control to be merged in real time – not only in 3D printing, but also in subtractive processes such as microstructuring. Various 3D printing processes for metals are used in the industry. The best known of which is laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), where lasers build up a workpiece by melting metal powder layer by layer. Along the LPBF-process chain the design data…

The simplest possible molecule H2+ was one of the very first molecules to form in the cosmos. This makes it significant for astrophysics, but also an important object of research for fundamental physics. It is difficult to study in experiments. However, a team of physicists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now succeeded in measuring the vibrations of the molecule with a laser for the first time. The result matches the theoretical prediction very closely, as the researchers now…