Kapitza-Dirac effect used to show temporal evolution of electron waves. One of the most fundamental interactions in physics is that of electrons and light. In an experiment at Goethe University Frankfurt, scientists have now managed to observe what is known as the Kapitza-Dirac effect for the first time in full temporal resolution. This effect was first postulated over 90 years ago, but only now are its finest details coming to light. Reinhard Dörner (von links), Markus Schöffler, Sina Jacob, Maksim…
Windows welcome light into interior spaces, but they also bring in unwanted heat. A new window coating blocks heat-generating ultraviolet and infrared light and lets through visible light, regardless of the sun’s angle. The coating can be incorporated onto existing windows or automobiles and can reduce air-conditioning cooling costs by more than one-third in hot climates. “The angle between the sunshine and your window is always changing,” said Tengfei Luo, the Dorini Family Professor for Energy Studies at the University…
An innovative mirror design revolutionizes ultra-intense ultrashort laser focus, enabling the highest intensity condition for ultra-intense ultrashort lasers, a breakthrough in strong-field laser physics. Ultra-intense ultrashort lasers are powerful tools used in various fields like physics, national security, industry, and healthcare. They help researchers delve into strong-field laser physics, laser-driven radiation sources, particle acceleration, and more. “Peak power” measures the intensity of these lasers, like the Nova laser (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, USA) with 1.5 petawatts of peak power,…
Researchers at TU Darmstadt present new approaches to a problem of statistical physics. Whether bacteria in search of food or microrobots that automatically collect toxins or waste, again and again this is a problem in statistical physics that has not yet been clarified satisfactorily: how does an “agent” have to move in order to collect randomly distributed targets as skilfully as possible? Researchers at TU Darmstadt have now presented an approach in the renowned journal Proceedings of the National Academy…
EIC project passes Critical Decision 3A (CD-3A), official OK to procure key components for building state-of-the-art collider. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Under Secretary for Science and Innovation has approved Critical Decision 3A (CD-3A) for the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a state-of-the-art particle collider for nuclear physics research that will be located at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and built in partnership with DOE’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). This milestone gives the project the formal go-ahead to purchase “long-lead procurements”…
Outer space has never before seemed so close, with spaceflight hovering within reach. To enhance the competitiveness of European space transportation systems, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT are developing innovative manufacturing technologies for rocket components in the ENLIGHTEN project. The researchers will be presenting their results at the Hannover Messe (Hall 2, Booth B24) from April 22 to 26, 2024. Min-Uh Ko and his team at Fraunhofer ILT have set their sights on nothing less than…
Researchers developed a 60-milliwatt solid-state DUV laser at 193 nm using LBO crystals, setting new benchmarks in efficiency values. In the realm of science and technology, harnessing coherent light sources in the deep ultraviolet (DUV) region holds immense significance across various applications such as lithography, defect inspection, metrology, and spectroscopy. Traditionally, high-power 193-nanometer (nm) lasers have been pivotal in lithography, forming an integral part of systems used for precise patterning. However, the coherence limitations associated with conventional ArF excimer lasers…
Researchers at AMOLF, in collaboration with partners from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, have realized a new type of metamaterial through which sound waves flow in an unprecedented fashion. It provides a novel form of amplification of mechanical vibrations, which has the potential to improve sensor technology and information processing devices. This metamaterial is the first instance of a so-called ‘bosonic Kitaev chain’, which gets its special properties from its nature as a topological material. It was realized by making nanomechanical…
… Spiraling at the Edge of Milky Way’s Central Black Hole. A new image from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, with significant contribution of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, has uncovered strong and organized magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Seen in polarized light for the first time, this new view of the monster lurking at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy has revealed a…
Experimental and theoretical physicists from the Würzburg Institute for Topological Insulators observed a re-entrant quantum Hall effect in a mercury telluride device and identify it as a signature of parity anomaly. Topological insulators are materials that can conduct electricity, but only on their surface or edges. No current flows inside them. They are the subject of intensive research worldwide because they have unique electronic properties that are interesting for improving the efficiency of quantum computers, for example, and for other…
Entropy, the amount of molecular disorder, is produced in several systems but cannot be measured directly. An equation developed by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, now sheds new light on how entropy is produced on a very short time scale in laser excited materials. “New computational models give us new research opportunities. Extending thermodynamics for ultrashort excitations will provide novel insights into how materials function on the nanoscale,” says Matthias Geilhufe, Assistant Professor at…
Particles colliding in accelerators produce numerous cascades of secondary particles. The electronics processing the signals avalanching in from the detectors then have a fraction of a second in which to assess whether an event is of sufficient interest to save it for later analysis. In the near future, this demanding task may be carried out using algorithms based on AI, the development of which involves scientists from the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the PAS. Electronics has never had an…
NASA’s BurstCube, a shoebox-sized satellite designed to study the universe’s most powerful explosions, is on its way to the International Space Station. The spacecraft travels aboard SpaceX’s 30th Commercial Resupply Services mission, which lifted off at 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. After arriving at the station, BurstCube will be unpacked and later released into orbit, where it will detect, locate, and study short gamma-ray bursts – brief flashes of high-energy light. “BurstCube…
Results suggest the clouds of Venus could be hospitable for some forms of life. If there is life in the solar system beyond Earth, it might be found in the clouds of Venus. In contrast to the planet’s blisteringly inhospitable surface, Venus’ cloud layer, which extends from 30 to 40 miles above the surface, hosts milder temperatures that could support some extreme forms of life. If it’s out there, scientists have assumed that any Venusian cloud inhabitant would look very…
Research team led by Göttingen University make extremely fast, precise images for first time. From solar panels on our roofs to the new OLED TV screens, many everyday electronic devices simply wouldn’t work without the interaction between light and the materials that make up semiconductors. A new category of semiconductors is based on organic molecules, which largely consist of carbon, such as buckminsterfullerene. The way organic semiconductors work is largely determined by their behaviour in the first few moments after…
This could be forever… Thanks for a new design contributed by a research team led by Prof. ZHAO Peng from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the operation time for plasma torch was extended from several days to several years. “We made the world’s longest-lasting plasma torch,” said Prof. ZHAO. Plasma torches, devices that generate thermal plasma, are pivotal in various industries due to their ability to efficiently produce high-temperature plasma. It can be…
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