Astronomers have proposed a new theory to explain the origin of phosphorus, one of the elements important for life on Earth. The theory suggests a type of stellar explosion known as ONe novae as a major source of phosphorus. After the Big Bang, almost all of the matter in the Universe was comprised of hydrogen. Other elements were formed later, by nuclear reactions inside stars or when stars exploded in events known as novae or supernovae. But there are a…
Recently, a research group led by Prof. JIANG Haihe from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) designed a 6-hole micro-structure anti-resonant air-core fiber (AR-HCF) with a larger core diameter of 78 μm. “This is the first time that 2.79 μm high energy pulsed laser has been transmitted with good efficiency at room temperature,” said Prof. JIANG. The relevant results were published in Optics and Laser Technology. Traditional laser medical instruments often face challenges such as complex structures and low efficiency. The AR-HCF…
The hydrogen atom was once considered the simplest atom in nature, composed of a structureless electron and a structured proton. However, as research progressed, scientists discovered a simpler type of atom, consisting of structureless electrons (e– ), muons (μ– ), or tauons (τ– ) and their equally structureless antiparticles. These atoms are bound together solely by electromagnetic interactions, with simpler structures than hydrogen atoms, providing a new perspective on scientific problems such as quantum mechanics, fundamental symmetry, and gravity. To…
Fifteen years ago, human hands touched NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope for the last time. As astronauts performed finishing tasks on the telescope during its final servicing mission in May 2009, they knew they had successfully concluded one of the most challenging and ambitious series of spacewalks ever conducted. But they couldn’t have known at the time what an impact they had truly made. “I had high hopes that Hubble would last at least five years more, and maybe even a little more…
Nahid Talebi receives Momentum funding of the Volkswagen Foundation for her research about quantum electrodynamics of photon-electron interactions. Being the pioneer of electron-photon interactions beyond non-recoil approximation, Professor Nahid Talebi and her group “Nanooptics” at Kiel University now set for a series of novel experiments and theoretical modeling that have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of how electron wave packets in electron microscopes interact with mater. Particularly, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, QuSensEM (Quantum Sensitive Measurements with Electron Microscope)…
Photon-number distributions of various light sources have been studied extensively. However, little is known about the statistical distribution of electrons emitted under the effect of intense light. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have now discovered extreme and highly unusual statistical events in electron-number distributions obtained when nanometer-sized metal needle tips are illuminated with ultrashort pulses of bright quantum light. Optical setup for the generation of bright squeezed vacuum. ©…
Not all magnets are the same. When we think of magnetism, we often think of magnets that stick to a refrigerator’s door. For these types of magnets, the electronic interactions that give rise to magnetism have been understood for around a century, since the early days of quantum mechanics. But there are many different forms of magnetism in nature, and scientists are still discovering the mechanisms that drive them. Now, physicists from Princeton University have made a major advance in…
An international research team from the University of Jena and the Helmholtz Institute Jena are demystifying the mechanisms by which high-intensity laser pulses produce plasma on the surface of solids. The interaction between high-intensity, ultrashort laser pulses and solids has opened up significant technological opportunities in recent years. Laser ablation, for example, allows high-precision materials processing, thereby facilitating the miniaturization of components in medical and telecommunications technologies. The synergy between intense laser pulses and solids can also be used to…
Using the Hubbard model, Flatiron Institute senior research scientist Shiwei Zhang and his colleagues have computationally re-created key features of the superconductivity in materials called cuprates that have puzzled scientists for decades. Superfast levitating trains, long-range lossless power transmission, faster MRI machines — all these fantastical technological advances could be in our grasp if we could just make a material that transmits electricity without resistance — or ‘superconducts’ — at around room temperature. In a paper published in the May…
Chemical reactions are complex mechanisms. Many different dynamical processes are involved, affecting both the electrons and the nucleus of the present atoms. Very often the strongly coupled electron and nuclear dynamics induce radiation-less relaxation processes known as conical intersections. Such dynamics, which are at the basis of many biological and chemical relevant functions, are extremely difficult to experimentally detect. Schematic illustration portraying the details of the entire ring-opening dynamics of furan. ©ICFO The problem arises when one tries to simultaneously…
The observations suggest some of earliest “monster” black holes grew from massive cosmic seeds. MIT astronomers have observed the elusive starlight surrounding some of the earliest quasars in the universe. The distant signals, which trace back more than 13 billion years to the universe’s infancy, are revealing clues to how the very first black holes and galaxies evolved. Quasars are the blazing centers of active galaxies, which host an insatiable supermassive black hole at their core. Most galaxies host a…
A team of researchers from the 5th Institute of Physics at the University of Stuttgart is making important progress in the field of quantum simulation and quantum computing based on Rydberg atoms by overcoming a fundamental limitation: the limited lifetime of Rydberg atoms. Circular Rydberg states are showing enormous potential for overcoming this limitation. The renowned journal Physical Review X reports on this in its latest issue. In the world of quantum computing and quantum simulation technology, there is a…
Astronomers have discovered enormous circular radio features of unknown origin around some galaxies. Now, new observations of one dubbed the Cloverleaf suggest it was created by clashing groups of galaxies. Studying these structures, collectively called ORCs (odd radio circles), in a different kind of light offered scientists a chance to probe everything from supersonic shock waves to black hole behavior. “This is the first time anyone has seen X-ray emission associated with an ORC,” said Esra Bulbul, an astrophysicist at…
A new study may reveal why… Planetary scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder have discovered how Venus, Earth’s scalding and uninhabitable neighbor, became so dry. The new study fills in a big gap in what the researchers call “the water story on Venus.” Using computer simulations, the team found that hydrogen atoms in the planet’s atmosphere go whizzing into space through a process known as “dissociative recombination”—causing Venus to lose roughly twice as much water every day compared to…
… solving the puzzle of stellar metal pollution. Dead stars known as white dwarfs, have a mass like the Sun while being similar in size to Earth. They are common in our galaxy, as 97% of stars are white dwarfs. As stars reach the end of their lives, their cores collapse into the dense ball of a white dwarf, making our galaxy seem like an ethereal graveyard. Despite their prevalence, the chemical makeup of these stellar remnants has been a…
Precisely measuring the energy states of individual atoms has been a historical challenge for physicists due to atomic recoil. When an atom interacts with a photon, the atom “recoils” in the opposite direction, making it difficult to measure the position and momentum of the atom precisely. This recoil can have big implications for quantum sensing, which detects minute changes in parameters, for example, using changes in gravitational waves to determine the shape of the Earth or even detect dark matter….
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