Since the 1960s, there has been speculation about a hypothetical propulsion method for interstellar space travel. Calculations at TU Wien (Vienna) show: it will remain science fiction. In science fiction stories about contact with extraterrestrial civilisations, there is a problem: What kind of propulsion system could make it possible to bridge the enormous distances between the stars? It cannot be done with ordinary rockets like those used to travel to the moon or Mars. Many more or less speculative ideas…
Cylindrical vector beam (CVB) multiplexing has emerged as a powerful technique to boost signal channels. Coupling and separating CVBs are two pivotal elements in CVB multiplexing communication. Although off-axis control technologies, such as miniature Dammann vortex gratings, have been investigated to couple and separate light beams, it is usually limited to light beams with homogeneous polarization due to its phase-only grating structure. For CVBs with inhomogeneous polarization, a gradient phase device is required to create a gradient phase difference between…
In an article published in the prestigious journal Science Advances, researchers* from Politecnico di Torino and National Institute of Metrological Research (INRiM) have proposed an innovative approach, based on quantum technologies, to check if a production process conforms to a reference or if it a “defective” one. An effective monitoring of the production processes is fundamental both for the safety of the released products and the economic efficiency of the process itself. Conformity tests are often performed with measurements on…
While working with helium nanodroplets, scientists at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, have come across a surprising phenomenon: When the ultracold droplets hit a hard surface, they behave like drops of water. Ions with which they were previously doped thus remain protected on impact and are not neutralized. At the Department of Ion Physics and Applied Physics of the University of Innsbruck, Paul Scheier’s research group has been using helium nanodroplets to study ions with methods of mass spectrometry for…
A levitating vehicle might someday explore the moon, asteroids, and other airless planetary surfaces. Aerospace engineers at MIT are testing a new concept for a hovering rover that levitates by harnessing the moon’s natural charge. Because they lack an atmosphere, the moon and other airless bodies such as asteroids can build up an electric field through direct exposure to the sun and surrounding plasma. On the moon, this surface charge is strong enough to levitate dust more than 1 meter…
Spartans joined an international team to create an isotope of magnesium that’s never been seen before. In collaboration with an international team of researchers, Michigan State University has helped create the world’s lightest version, or isotope, of magnesium to date. Forged at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at MSU, or NSCL, this isotope is so unstable, it falls apart before scientists can measure it directly. Yet this isotope that isn’t keen on existing can help researchers better understand how the…
A “game changing” new telescope will be blasted into space tonight to embark on a lonely 1.5-million-kilometre orbit around the Sun to provide a clearer view of the ever-expanding universe. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest telescope ever to be launched into space and will be used by University of Queensland researchers to observe asteroids and newborn planets, as well as black holes in distant galaxies. UQ astrophysicist Dr Benjamin Pope said he’s excited by the capabilities…
An international study shows which factors determine the speed limit for quantum computations. Which factors determine how fast a quantum computer can perform its calculations? Physicists at the University of Bonn and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology have devised an elegant experiment to answer this question. The results of the study are published in the journal Science Advances. Quantum computers are highly sophisticated machines that rely on the principles of quantum mechanics to process information. This should enable…
The more than 70 sunless worlds are each roughly the mass of Jupiter. Using observations and archival data from several of NSF’s NOIRLab’s observatories, together with observations from telescopes around the world and in orbit, astronomers have discovered at least 70 new free-floating planets — planets that wander through space without a parent star — in a nearby region of the Milky Way. This is the largest sample of such planets found in a single group and it nearly doubles…
Miniaturization of optical components is a challenge in photonics. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Friedrich Schiller University Jena have now succeeded in developing a diffuser, a disk that scatters light, based on silicon nanoparticles. It can be used to specifically control the direction, color, and polarization of light. This novel technology may be used in transparent screens or augmented reality. The results are reported in Advanced Materials (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202105868). Photonics, the science of generating, spreading, and detecting…
The transmission electron microscope (TEM) can image molecular structures at the atomic scale by using electrons instead of light, and has revolutionized materials science and structural biology. The past decade has seen a lot of interest in combining electron microscopy with optical excitations, trying, for example, to control and manipulate the electron beam by light. But a major challenge has been the rather weak interaction of propagating electrons with photons. In a new study, researchers have successfully demonstrated extremely efficient…
An adaptive optimization protocol engineers arbitrary high-dimensional states to enable quantum information tasks that require finding optimal values of experimental parameters under noisy conditions. The adoption of high-dimensional quantum states in quantum information protocols enables better performances in applications ranging from secure quantum communications to fault-tolerant quantum computation. Development of universal protocols able to engineer arbitrary high-dimensional quantum states would be a significant achievement. Several strategies and platforms have been proposed and developed to this end. Quantum-walk (QW) dynamics have…
Flexible tentaclelike manipulators driven by air pressure can be designed to grasp, manipulate soft objects. Traditional robots can have difficulty grasping and manipulating soft objects if their manipulators are not flexible in the way elephant trunks, octopus tentacles, or human fingers can be. In Applied Physics Reviews, by AIP Publishing, investigators from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China developed a type of multiple-segment soft manipulator inspired by these biological systems. The soft manipulators are based on pneu-nets, which are pneumatically…
Results to provide data for NASA’s upcoming Psyche mission. An asteroid impact can be enough to ruin anyone’s day, but several small factors can make the difference between an out-of-this-world story and total annihilation. In AIP Advances, by AIP Publishing, a researcher from the National Institute of Natural Hazards in China developed a computer simulation of asteroid collisions to better understand these factors. The computer simulation initially sought to replicate model asteroid strikes performed in a laboratory. After verifying the…
Despite damaged equipment, supply chain delays, COVID restrictions and event a blizzard, LaserSETI successfully installed its second observatory at Haleakala Observatory. Last summer the SETI Institute began installing a second LaserSETI Observatory, this time 10,000 feet above sea level at Haleakala Observatory, thanks to the University of Hawai’i’s Institute of Astronomy (IfA). As a result of challenges involving equipment damaged during shipping, supply chain delays for replacement parts, equipment malfunctions and even a blizzard in Hawai’i, the installation was delayed…
The metric system was introduced in Germany 150 years ago. The world can sometimes reach a consensus. At least when it comes to measuring things. Today, it seems obvious to us to measure distances in meters, electric current in amperes and weights in kilograms. The story of this global achievement started with the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century. The French Revolution set many things in motion, it abolished some others, and it led to the creation…
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