They are as thin as a hair, only a hundred thousand times thinner—so-called two-dimensional materials, consisting of a single layer of atoms, have been booming in research for years. The materials possess novel properties that can only be explained with the help of the laws of quantum mechanics and that may be relevant for enhanced technologies. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now used ultracold atoms to gain new insights into previously unknown quantum phenomena. They found out that…
An international team of researchers found that so-called photonic processors, with which data is processed by means of light, can process information very much more rapidly and in parallel than electronic chips. The results have been published in the scientific journal “Nature”. In the digital age, data traffic is growing at an exponential rate. The demands on computing power for applications in artificial intelligence such as pattern and speech recognition in particular, or for self-driving vehicles, often exceeds the capacities…
Topological materials are characterised by unique electronic and physical properties that are determined by the underlying topology of their electronic systems. Scientists from the Max Planck Institutes for Microstructure Physics (Halle) and for Chemical Physics of Solids (Dresden) have now discovered that (TaSe4)2I is the first material in which a charge density wave induces a phase transition between the semimetal to insulator state. An international team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale), the Max…
Supersolids are fluid and solid at the same time. Physicists from Innsbruck and Geneva have for the first time investigated what happens when such a state is brought out of balance. They discovered a soft form of a solid of high interest for science. As the researchers led by Francesca Ferlaino and Thierry Giamarchi report in Nature Physics, they were also able to reverse the process and restore supersolidity. Last year, more than fifty years after initial theoretical proposals, researchers…
A new machine learning system can correctly diagnose particle accelerator component issues in real-time. Operators of the primary particle accelerator at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility are getting a new tool to help them quickly address issues that can prevent it from running smoothly. A new machine learning system has passed its first two-week test, correctly identifying glitchy accelerator components and the type of glitches they’re experiencing in near-real-time. An analysis of the results of…
An international team of scientists, led by Kartik Ayyer from the MPSD, has obtained some of the sharpest possible 3D images of gold nanoparticles. The resuts lay the foundation for obtaining high resolution images of macromolecules. The study was carried out at the European XFEL’s Single Particles, Clusters, and Biomolecules & Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SPB/SFX) instrument and the results have been published in Optica. Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids are micromolecules which populate our cells and are vital for…
A scientific publication by researchers at Münster University rank among the best 30 research studies of the year 2020, rates “Optics & Photonics News”. With their annual special issue in December, the journal selects the highlights in optics and photonics of the past year. A publication by researchers led by physicist Prof. Cornelia Denz is among the world’s 30 most groundbreaking papers of 2020, according to the journal Optics & Photonics News. In its special annual end-of-year issue, the journal…
Scientists from the United States, China, and Russia have described the structure and properties of a novel hydrogen clathrate hydrate that forms at room temperature and relatively low pressure. Hydrogen hydrates are a potential solution for hydrogen storage and transportation, the most environmentally friendly fuel. The research was published in the journal Physical Review Letters. Ice is a highly complex substance with multiple polymorphic modifications that keep growing in number as scientists make discoveries. The physical properties of ice vary…
New study experimentally proved for the first time a century-old quantum theory that relativistic particles can pass through a barrier with 100% transmission. The perfect transmission of sound through a barrier is difficult to achieve, if not impossible based on our existing knowledge. This is also true with other energy forms such as light and heat. A research team led by Professor Xiang Zhang, President of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) when he was a professor at the University…
Collaboration between Goethe University and the University of Oklahoma Anyone entering the world of quantum physics must prepare themself for quite a few things unknown in the everyday world: Noble gases form compounds, atoms behave like particles and waves at the same time and events that in the macroscopic world exclude each other occur simultaneously. In the world of quantum physics, Reinhard Dörner and his team are working with molecules which – in the sense of most textbooks – ought…
Osaka City University scientists have developed mathematical formulas to describe the current and fluctuations of strongly correlated electrons in quantum dots. Their theoretical predictions could soon be tested experimentally. Theoretical physicists Yoshimichi Teratani and Akira Oguri of Osaka City University, and Rui Sakano of the University of Tokyo have developed mathematical formulas that describe a physical phenomenon happening within quantum dots and other nanosized materials. The formulas, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, could be applied to further theoretical…
The breakthrough makes a significant step forward in photonics and microwave technology by eliminating the need for bulky magnets. An international research team lead by Aalto University has found a new and simple route to break the reciprocity law in the electromagnetic world, by changing material properties periodically in time. The breakthrough could help to create efficient nonreciprocal devices, such as compact isolators and circulators, that are needed for the next generation of microwave and optical communications systems. When we…
The European Commission will provide €15 million in funding to a consortium of 37 astronomical institutions from EU and UK. The goal of the Opticon-RadioNet Pilot Project (ORP) is to enable and facilitate scientists to share between the partners observing time at optical and radio telescopes. Within the RadioNet program top-class radio telescopes were available, including MPIfR’s 100-m radio telescope at Effelsberg, and the APEX submillimeter telescope in Chile. And the OPTICON alliance pursued a similar concept within visible wavelengths….
How stars form in galaxies remains a major open question in astrophysics. A new UZH study sheds new light on this topic with the help of a data-driven re-analysis of observational measurements. The star-formation activity of typical, nearby galaxies is found to scale proportionally with the amount of gas present in these galaxies. This points to the net gas supply from cosmic distances as the main driver of galactic star formation. Stars are born in dense clouds of molecular hydrogen…
As Chile and Argentina witnessed the total solar eclipse on Dec. 14, 2020, unbeknownst to skywatchers, a little tiny speck was flying past the Sun — a recently discovered comet. This comet was first spotted in satellite data by Thai amateur astronomer Worachate Boonplod on the NASA-funded Sungrazer Project — a citizen science project that invites anyone to search for and discover new comets in images from the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or…
Researchers from the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester and the University of Pennsylvania identify ultra-fast gas flows through atomic-scale apertures in 2D membrane and validate a century-old equation of fluid dynamics. Researchers from the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester and the University of Pennsylvania have identified ultra-fast gas flows through the tiniest holes in one-atom-thin membranes, in a study published in Science Advances. The work – alongside another study from Penn on the creation…
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