Yes, we quant! Researchers at Fraunhofer IZM want to bring quantum physics from the textbooks to reality. Using optical glass-integrated waveguides, they are developing a universal platform that enables the setup of solutions for tap-proof quantum communication and high-precision quantum sensors in miniaturized form, quickly and according to customer requirements. Why the combination of photonics and quanta is particularly well suited and which future fields are opening up thanks to quantum technologies. Schrödinger’s cat is in a box – is…
Imperfect electrode proves more efficient Resistive switching memory devices offer several advantages over the currently used computer memory technology. Researchers from the MIPT Atomic Layer Deposition Lab have joined forces with colleagues from Korea to study the impact of electrode surface morphology on the properties of a resistive switching memory cell. It turned out that thicker electrodes have greater surface roughness and are associated with markedly better memory cell characteristics. The research findings were published in ACS Applied Materials &…
Astrophysicists reconstruct the galaxy merger history of our home galaxy. Galaxies like the Milky Way formed by the merging of smaller progenitor galaxies. An international team of astrophysicists led by Dr Diederik Kruijssen from the Centre for Astronomy at Heidelberg University has succeeded in reconstructing the merger history of our home galaxy, creating a complete family tree. To achieve this, the researchers analysed the properties of globular clusters orbiting the Milky Way with artificial intelligence. Their investigations revealed a previously…
Physicists at Münster University have succeeded in fully integrating nanodiamonds into nanophotonic circuits and at the same time addressing several of these nanodiamonds optically. The study creates the basis for future applications in the field of quantum sensing schemes or quantum information processors. The results have been published in the journal “Nano Letters”. Using modern nanotechnology, it is possible nowadays to produce structures which have a feature sizes of just a few nanometres. This world of the most minute particles…
– precisely sending and receiving single molecules Researchers of the University of Graz, Austria, managed to send single molecules to a distant location and receive them from there. The study appears as the cover story in the current issue of the magazine Science. The idea of throwing and catching a ball is familiar to everyone. Now, if the ball is replaced with something as tiny as a single molecule, is this task still possible? Can a single molecule be transferred…
Understanding the behavior of light-matter interaction under extreme conditions, such as in high-density plasmas, is important for our identification of cosmologic objects and the formation of the universe. Researchers at the Universities of Jena, Germany, California in Berkeley, USA, Madrid, Spain, and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France have succeeded in directly observing the formation and interaction of highly ionized krypton plasma using femtosecond coherent ultraviolet light and a novel four-dimensional model. The last decade has been marked by a…
Large objects, such as baseballs, vehicles, and planets, behave in accordance with the classical laws of mechanics formulated by Sir Isaac Newton. Small ones, such as atoms and subatomic particles, are governed by quantum mechanics, where an object can behave as both a wave and a particle. The boundary between the classical and quantum realms has always been of great interest. Research reported in AVS Quantum Science, by AIP Publishing, considers the question of what makes something “more quantum” than…
Probably none! In their new study now published in Nature Communications, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization have deciphered a novel regularization mechanism encoded in the Navier-Stokes equations that offers a new direction in the exclusion of singularities. From stirring sugar in coffee to global weather patterns – turbulent currents constantly shape the life around us. Mathematically, they are described by the Navier-Stokes equations, as now known for almost two centuries. Despite the widespread use of…
The quantum dynamics of hydrogen is central to many problems in nature, being strongly influenced by the environment in which it takes place. In their contribution to PRL, members of the Lise Meitner Group at the MPSD address hydrogen transfer within a supported molecular switch, showing that the surface support can play a decisive role in the tunneling reaction. In the constant quest to miniaturize technological components, molecule-based nanotechnology becomes an ever-growing field of interest. In this field, single molecules…
Dotty graphene and doping: Whatever it takes for Russia’s record plasmonics to shine. Physicists from MIPT and Vladimir State University, Russia, have achieved a nearly 90% efficiency converting light energy into surface waves on graphene. They relied on a laser-like energy conversion scheme and collective resonances. The paper came out in Laser & Photonics Reviews. Manipulating light at the nanoscale is a task crucial for being able to create ultracompact devices for optical energy conversion and storage. To localize light…
Bringing huge amounts of protons up to speed in the shortest distance in fractions of a second — that’s what laser acceleration technology, greatly improved in recent years, can do. An international research team from the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung and the Helmholtz Institute Jena, a branch of GSI, in collaboration with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA, has succeeded in using protons accelerated with the GSI high-power laser PHELIX to split other nuclei and to analyze them. The results…
Researchers at the the University of Regensburg and the MPSD in Hamburg have developed a groundbreaking method to detect the dynamics of light on such a small scale with high temporal resolution. Since the 17th century, researchers have explored tiny objects in their most fundamental detail using light and optical microscopes. However, because visible light has a wavelength more than a thousand times larger than the size of an atom, today’s most advanced microscopes routinely image the atomic world with…
Researchers add second dating technique to prototype spaceflight instrument. A new study by Southwest Research Institute scientists describes how they have expanded the capabilities of the prototype spaceflight instrument Chemistry Organic and Dating Experiment (CODEX), designed for field-based dating of extraterrestrial materials. CODEX now uses two different dating approaches based on rubidium-strontium and lead-lead geochronology methods. The instrument uses laser ablation resonance ionization mass spectrometry (LARIMS) to obtain dates using these methods. “The central aim of CODEX is to better…
Bringing huge amounts of protons up to speed in the shortest distance in fractions of a second — that’s what laser acceleration technology, greatly improved in recent years, can do. An international research team from the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung and the Helmholtz Institute Jena, a branch of GSI, in collaboration with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA, has succeeded in using protons accelerated with the GSI high-power laser PHELIX to split other nuclei and to analyze them. The results…
Removing one charged molecule from a one-dimensional array causes the others to alternately turn ‘on’ or ‘off,’ paving the way for information transfer in tiny circuits. Small electronic circuits power our everyday lives, from the tiny cameras in our phones to the microprocessors in our computers. To make those devices even smaller, scientists and engineers are designing circuitry components out of single molecules. Not only could miniaturized circuits offer the benefits of increased device density, speed, and energy efficiency —…
When you cool down liquid water, it crystallizes into ice. Consider a bucket filled with water, for example. When the water is liquid, the water molecules can be anywhere inside the bucket. In this sense, every point inside the bucket is equivalent. Once the water freezes, however, the water molecules occupy well-defined positions in space. Thus, not every point inside the bucket is equivalent anymore. Physicists refer to this phenomenon as spontaneous symmetry breaking. Here the translation symmetry in space…
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