PhysORG Physics News

Squeezing microwave fields by magnetostrictive interaction
Squeezed states of the electromagnetic field find many important applications in quantum information science and quantum metrology. Dr. Jie Li et al. at Zhejiang University put forward a new mechanism …
How far has nuclear fusion power come? We could be at a turning point for the technology
Our society faces the grand challenge of providing sustainable, secure and affordable means of generating energy, while trying to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to net zero around 2050.
Study explores the possibility that dark photons might be a heat source for intergalactic gas
Gas clouds across the universe are known to absorb the light produced by distant massive celestial objects, known as quasars. This light manifests as the so-called Lyman alpha forest, a dense structur …
Quantum processor reveals bound states of photons hold strong even in the midst of chaos
Researchers have used a quantum processor to make microwave photons uncharacteristically sticky. They coaxed them to clump together into bound states, then found that these photon clusters survived in …
A novel, space-time coding antenna promotes 6G and secure wireless communications
A research team co-led by a scientist at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a novel antenna that allows manipulation of the direction, frequency and amplitude of the radiated beam, and …
Using 3D metal-printing topological materials to manipulate full-vector elastic waves
A collaboration between Prof. Weiying Deng at South China University of Technology, Prof. Feng Li at Beijing Institute of Technology, and Prof. Zhengyou Liu at Wuhan University was recently published …
Experimental implementation of measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution
Recently, the research group of Prof. Zeng-Bing Chen and Associate Prof. Hua-Lei Yin (National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advan …
Scientists narrow the anchor point in a quantum chromodynamics critical point search
Heavy ion collisions at the highest energies have revealed a new phase of nuclear matter with freely moving quarks and gluons, the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP). The Beam Energy Scan program at the RHIC pa …
Novel two-dimensional homogeneous bias device induced under moderate pressure
In a study published in Advanced Materials, researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in cooperation with researchers from University of Science and …
Telescope-inspired microscope sees molecules in 6D
A new technology, inspired in part by the design of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), uses mirror segments to sort and collect light on the microscopic scale, and capture images of molecules with …
Antiferromagnets are suitable for transporting spin waves over long distances, study finds
Smaller, faster, more powerful: The demands on microelectronic devices are high and are constantly increasing. However, if chips, processors and the like are based on electricity, there are limits to …
On-demand storage of photonic qubits at telecom wavelengths
In a recent study published in Physical Review Letters, a research team led by Prof. Guo Guangcan from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) …
Tiny underwater sand dunes may shed light on larger terrestrial and Martian formations
The English poet William Blake famously implored readers to "see the world in a grain of sand." In the journal Physics of Fluids, scientists from the University of Campinas, in Brazil, and t …
X-ray analysis without doubt: Four-decade enigma of cosmic X-rays solved
An international team led by the Heidelberg MPl for Nuclear Physics has solved a decades-long problem in astrophysics with a high-precision experiment.
Multifunctional terahertz transparency of thermally oxidized vanadium metasurface over insulator metal transition
A research team, led by the Nano Optics Group within the Department of Physics at UNIST has reported achieving all-vanadium dioxide (VO2) multifunctional metasurfaces, which perform as a transparent w …
Researchers adapt a Nobel Prize-winning method to design new, ultra-powerful X-ray systems
If scientists want to push the boundaries of, say, an X-ray laser, they may need to create some new technology. But occasionally there's no need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, scientists simply …
Plasma instability may be a solution for magnetic nozzle plasma thrusters
A research group has demonstrated that spontaneously excited plasma waves may be the solution to a long-associated problem with magnetic nozzle plasma thrusters, turning conventional thinking on its h …
Improving precision of pressure determination in nanosecond X-ray diffraction experiments
X-ray diffraction measurements under laser-driven dynamic compression allow researchers to investigate the atomic structure of matter at hundreds of thousands of atmospheres of pressure and temperatur …
New instrument measures supercurrent flow; data has applications in quantum computing
Jigang Wang offered a quick walk-around of a new sort of microscope that can help researchers understand—and ultimately develop—the inner workings of quantum computing.
3D printing can help produce valuable radiopharmaceuticals
Without accurate diagnostics, it is difficult to talk about effective treatment of patients, especially in the case of cancer. Today, as much as 80% of diagnostic procedures using radiopharmaceuticals …
Team develops photon-efficient volumetric imaging method with light-sheet scanning fluorescence microscopy
In biological imaging, researchers aim to achieve 3D, high-speed, and high-resolution, with low photobleaching and phototoxicity. The light-sheet fluorescence microscope (LSFM) helps meet that aim. Ba …
Measuring times in billionths of a billionth of a second
How fast do electrons inside a molecule move? Well, it is so fast that it takes them just a few attoseconds (a billionth of billionth of a second) to jump from one atom to another. Blink and you misse …
Quantum light source could pave the way to a quantum internet
The ability to integrate fiber-based quantum information technology into existing optical networks would be a significant step toward applications in quantum communication. To achieve this, quantum li …
A new milestone for laser technology: Seeded free-electron lasers
Extremely intense light pulses generated by free-electron lasers (FELs) are versatile tools in research. Particularly in the X-ray range, they can be deployed to analyze the details of atomic structur …
Simulations predict the existence of black hole radio-wave hot spots
Black holes, regions in spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape from them, are among the most fascinating and widely studied cosmic phenomena. While there are now countless theori …
World Cup: This year's special Al Rihla ball has the aerodynamics of a champion, according to a sports physicist
As with every World Cup, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar the players will be using a new ball. The last thing competitors want is for the most important piece of equipment in the most important to …
Using lasers to bond semiconductor electronics components
Today, lasers are well-established in daily life, even if it is sometimes hard to tell what and where they are. As an example, we can find them in CD/DVD readers or medical applications like cancer an …
Broken symmetries provide opportunities for thermal emission management
Radiative heat transfer is a ubiquitous physical process in our universe. Any object with a temperature above absolute zero exchanges thermal energy with the environment. In physics, thermal emission …
Researchers discover what causes some icicles to form with ripples
Experimental physicists at the University of Toronto are closer to understanding why some icicles form with ripples up and down their outsides, while others form with smooth, slick, even surfaces.
Why does lightning zigzag? At last, an answer to the mystery
Everyone has seen lightning and marveled at its power. But despite its frequency—about 8.6 million lightning strikes occur worldwide every day—why lightning proceeds in a series of steps from the thun …