Physics & Astronomy

Physics & Astronomy

New Insights: High Order Skyrmions and Antiskyrmions Found

Study opens up new paradigm in skyrmionics research. Researchers at the University of Augsburg and the University of Vienna have discovered co-existing magnetic skyrmions and antiskyrmions of arbitrary topological charge at room temperature in magnetic Co/Ni multilayer thin films. Their findings have been published in the renowned journal Nature Physics and open up the possibility for a new paradigm in skyrmionics research. The discovery of novel spin objects with arbitrary topological charge promises to contribute to advances in fundamental and…

Physics & Astronomy

New Junior Research Group Focuses on Molecular Spin Qubits

University of Stuttgart strengthens promising field of research. Quantum computers are regarded as one of the next big sensations in science and industry. What the basic building blocks of technically mature computers, the qubits, will consist of in the future, is still a current research question. Dr. Lorenzo Tesi from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Stuttgart is investigating molecular spin qubits. The chemical scientist is establishing an Emmy Noether junior research group for the still young…

Physics & Astronomy

HKU Physicists Overcome Optical Loss in Polariton System

HKU physicists overcoming optical loss in polariton system with synthetic complex frequency waves. A collaborative research team co-led by Professor Shuang ZHANG, the Interim Head of the Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), along with Professor Qing DAI from National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China, has introduced a solution to a prevalent issue in the realm of nanophotonics – the study of light at an extremely small scale. Their findings, recently published in the prestigious academic…

Physics & Astronomy

Magnesium: A Promising Solution for Hydrogen Storage

It is easy to be optimistic about hydrogen as an ideal fuel. It is much more difficult to come up with a solution to an absolutely fundamental problem: how to store this fuel efficiently? A Swiss-Polish team of experimental and theoretical physicists has found the answer to the question of why previous attempts to use the promising magnesium hydride for this purpose have proved unsatisfactory – and why they may succeed in the future. Hydrogen has long been seen as…

Physics & Astronomy

Astrophysical jet caught in a “speed trap”

How Gamma Rays Track the Velocity of the Galactic Microquasar SS 433’s Jets and Uncover Highly Efficient Particle Acceleration. The science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke selected his own seven wonders of the world in a BBC television series in 1997. The only astronomical object he included was SS 433. It had attracted attention already in the late 1970s due to its X-ray emission and was later discovered to be at the center of a gas nebula that is dubbed…

Physics & Astronomy

Predictive Control of Fusion Plasma Using Digital Twin Technology

Application of dData assimilation applied to adaptive predictive control. Fusion energy is being developed as a solution to global energy problems. In particular, the magnetic confinement method, in which ultra-high temperature plasma is confined by a magnetic field, is the most advanced and is considered to be the most promising method for fusion reactors. By this method, the plasma is confined in the reactor in a high-temperature, high-density state by a magnetic field, and the energy released by the fusion…

Physics & Astronomy

Ultrafast Excitations in Strongly Correlated Systems Explained

Scientific article “Sub-cycle multidimensional spectroscopy of strongly correlated materials” published in Nature Photonics. An international team of researchers from the European XFEL together with colleagues from the Max-Born Institute in Berlin, Universities of Berlin and Hamburg, The University of Tokyo, the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the Dutch Radboud University, Imperial College London, and Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging, have presented new ideas for ultrafast multi-dimensional spectroscopy of strongly correlated solids. This work has now…

Physics & Astronomy

Exploring Hidden Properties of Quantum Materials Through Light

Certain materials have desirable properties that are hidden, and just as you would use a flashlight to see in the dark, scientists can use light to uncover these properties. Researchers at the University of California San Diego have used an advanced optical technique to learn more about a quantum material called Ta2NiSe5 (TNS). Their work appears in Nature Materials. Materials can be perturbed through different external stimuli, often with changes in temperature or pressure; however, because light is the fastest thing in…

Physics & Astronomy

New Multiphoton Effect Enhances Quantum Light Interference

Finding offers new starting points for research into photonic quantum information systems. An international team of researchers from Leibniz University Hannover (Germany) and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow (United Kingdom) has disproved a previously held assumption about the impact of multiphoton components in interference effects of thermal fields (e.g. sunlight) and parametric single photons (generated in non-linear crystals). “We experimentally proved that the interference effect between thermal light and parametric single photons also leads to quantum interference with the…

Physics & Astronomy

Reimagining the Optical Diode Effect with New Material Discovery

Discovery of a material with a large nonreciprocal absorption of light that differs by a factor of two or more when the direction of light propagation is reversed. At the heart of global internet connectivity, optical communications form an indispensable foundation.  Key to this foundation are optical isolators, created by combining multiple components. The result is a complex structure that transmits light in only one direction, to prevent damage to lasers and minimize noise by avoiding the reversal of light….

Physics & Astronomy

New Insights on Frictionless Surfaces for Energy Efficiency

…is slippery slope to energy-efficient technology. Scientists led by the University of Leicester have made an insight into superlubricity, where surfaces experience extremely low levels of friction. While many of us are treading carefully to avoid a slip in the frosty weather, scientists led by the University of Leicester have been investigating how to make surfaces even slippier! They have solved a conundrum in the principles of superlubricity – a state in which two surfaces experience little to almost vanishing…

Physics & Astronomy

Quantum Magnetometers: Early Detection of Material Defects

Quantum magnetometers are able to detect and visualize the tiniest damage in ferromagnetic materials. In aerospace technology or the automotive industry, they can help to significantly increase the resilience and safety of systems and materials. This conclusion was reached by researchers from the recently completed Fraunhofer lighthouse project QMag. They also investigated the use of quantum magnetometers in biomedicine, flow measurement and chip production. Structural defects such as cracks, precipitations or other irregularities in metallic materials lead to local changes…

Physics & Astronomy

Pomerons in Protons: Unveiling Maximal Entanglement

When a high-energy photon strikes a proton, secondary particles diverge in a way that indicates that the inside of the proton is maximally entangled. An international team of physicists with the participation of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow has just demonstrated that maximum entanglement is present in the proton even in those cases where pomerons are involved in the collisions. Eighteen months ago, it was shown that different parts of the interior…

Physics & Astronomy

New Insights on Extrasolar Worlds Around Multiple Suns

Astrophysicists at the University of Jena are analysing the latest observational data from the Gaia space telescope and not only finding hundreds of new companion stars of exoplanet host stars, but also showing how these influence planetary properties. People in ancient times knew five planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, which they considered to be “wandering stars”. It was only with the Copernican revolution in the 16th century, the Earth itself also became a planet, orbiting our planet host…

Physics & Astronomy

Nano Power Plants: Mickael Perrin’s Graphene Innovations

Quantum physicist Mickael Perrin uses graphene ribbons to build nanoscale power plants that turn waste heat from electrical equipment into electricity. A visit to the engineer with the invisible machines. When Mickael Perrin started out on his scientific career 12 years ago, he had no way of knowing he was conducting research in an area that would be attracting wide public interest only a few years later: quantum electronics. “At the time, physicists were just starting to talk about the…

Physics & Astronomy

Unlocking Quantum Sound: Cooling Acoustic Waves Explained

The quantum ground state of an acoustic wave of a certain frequency can be reached by completely cooling the system. In this way, the number of quantum particles, the so-called acoustic phonons, which cause disturbance to quantum measurements, can be reduced to almost zero and the gap between classical and quantum mechanics bridged. Over the past decade, major technological advances have been made, making it possible to put a wide variety of systems into this state. Mechanical vibrations oscillating between…

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