https://phys.org/physics-news/ en-us The latest news in physics, materials science, quantum physics, optics and photonics, superconductivity science and technology. Updated Daily. One of the greatest problems in modern physics is to reconcile the enormous difference between the energy carried by random fluctuations in the vacuum of space, and the dark energy driving the universe's expansion. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-elucidate-dark-energy.html General Physics Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:02:03 EST news628963321 The idea of objects seamlessly disappearing, not just in controlled laboratory environments but also in real-world scenarios, has long captured the popular imagination. This concept epitomizes the trajectory of human civilization, from primitive camouflage techniques to the sophisticated metamaterial-based cloaks of today. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-drone-invisibility-autonomous-sea-air.html General Physics Optics & Photonics Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:47:03 EST news628951621 A research team led by the Paul Scherrer Institute has spectroscopically observed the fractionalization of electronic charge in an iron-based metallic ferromagnet. Experimental observation of the phenomenon is not only of fundamental importance. Since it appears in an alloy of common metals at accessible temperatures, it holds potential for future exploitation in electronic devices. The discovery is published in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-weird-electron-behavior-weirder-fractionalization.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:29:06 EST news628950541 Two physicists at the University of Konstanz are developing a method that could enable the stable exchange of information in quantum computers. In the leading role: photons that make quantum bits "fly." https://phys.org/news/2024-03-photons-quantum-bits-fly-stable.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Physics Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:47:03 EST news628948021 Stanford researchers have unveiled a new type of frequency comb, a high-precision measurement device, that is innovatively small, ultra-energy efficient, and exceptionally accurate. With continued development, this breakthrough "microcomb"—which is detailed in a study published March 7 in Nature—could be the basis for mass-market adoption of the devices in everyday electronics. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-ruler-enable-personal-devices.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:00:01 EST news628942539 A group of Tohoku University researchers has developed a theoretical model for a high-performance spin wave reservoir computing (RC) that utilizes spintronics technology. The breakthrough moves scientists closer to realizing energy-efficient, nanoscale computing with unparalleled computational power. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-giant-neuromorphic-devices-high-reservoir.html Condensed Matter Wed, 06 Mar 2024 10:07:33 EST news628942051 A research team affiliated with UNIST has unveiled for the first time a new principle of motion in the microworld, where objects can move in a directed manner simply by changing their sizes periodically within a substance known as liquid crystal. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-uncover-principle-motion-liquid-crystals.html Soft Matter Wed, 06 Mar 2024 08:52:02 EST news628937521 The many properties of light allow it to be manipulated and used for applications that range from very sensitive measurements to communications and intelligent ways to interrogate objects. A compelling degree of freedom is the spatial pattern, called structured light, which can resemble shapes such as donuts and flower petals. For instance, patterns with different numbers of petals can represent letters of the alphabet, and when observed on the other side, deliver the message. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-method-distortion.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 05 Mar 2024 14:23:02 EST news628870981 For more than a decade it has been possible for physicists to accurately measure the location of individual atoms to a precision smaller than one-thousandth of a millimeter using a special type of microscope. However, this method has so far only provided the x and y coordinates. Information on the vertical position of the atom is lacking. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-method-3d-position-individual-atoms.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Physics Tue, 05 Mar 2024 12:01:04 EST news628862462 In the Japanese art of Kintsugi, an artist takes the broken shards of a bowl and fuses them back together with gold to make a final product more beautiful than the original. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-fusion-reaction-weaknesses-strengths.html Condensed Matter Plasma Physics Tue, 05 Mar 2024 10:28:49 EST news628856926 Universal behavior is a central property of phase transitions, which can be seen, for example, in magnets that are no longer magnetic above a certain temperature. A team of researchers from Kaiserslautern, Berlin and Hainan, China, has succeeded for the first time in observing such universal behavior in the temporal development of an open quantum system, a single cesium atom in a bath of rubidium atoms. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-quantum-universal-behavior.html Quantum Physics Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:32:03 EST news628853521 In work published in Physical Review Letters researchers at Osaka University's Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (SANKEN) used "the shortcuts to the adiabaticity (STA)" method to greatly speed-up the adiabatic evolution of spin qubits. The spin flip fidelity after pulse optimization can be as high as 97.8% in GaAs quantum dots. This work may be applicable to other adiabatic passage and may be useful for fast and high-fidelity quantum control. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-shortcut-success-fast-robust-quantum.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:06:03 EST news628851962 High-energy neutrinos are extremely rare particles that have so far proved very difficult to detect. Fluxes of these rare particles were first detected by the IceCube Collaboration back in 2013. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-atlas-detector-flux-high-energy.html General Physics Tue, 05 Mar 2024 07:30:01 EST news628766453 Researchers have developed a new way to control and manipulate optical signals by embedding a liquid crystal layer into waveguides created with direct laser writing. The new devices enable electro-optical control of polarization, which could open new possibilities for chip-based devices and complex photonic circuits based on femtosecond-written waveguides. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-liquid-crystals-polarization-laser-written.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 04 Mar 2024 17:43:03 EST news628796581 A team of researchers led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst has recently found an exception to the 200-year-old law, known as Fourier's Law, that governs how heat diffuses through solid materials. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-exception-year-scientific-law.html General Physics Mon, 04 Mar 2024 16:57:03 EST news628793821 The LHCb collaboration recently reported on the arXiv preprint server the first observation of the decay of the Bc+ meson (composed of two heavy quarks, b and c) into a J/ψ charm-anticharm quark bound state and a pair of pions, π+π0. The decay process shows a contribution from an intermediate particle, a ρ+ meson that forms for a brief moment and then decays into the π+π0 pair. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-lhcb-decay-mode-charmed-beauty.html General Physics Mon, 04 Mar 2024 13:27:50 EST news628781268 In Nature Physics, the LSU Quantum Photonics Group offers fresh insights into the fundamental traits of surface plasmons, challenging the existing understanding. Based on experimental and theoretical investigations conducted in Associate Professor Omar Magaña-Loaiza's laboratory, these novel findings mark a significant advancement in quantum plasmonics, possibly the most noteworthy in the past decade. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-multiparticle-nanostructures-quantum-technologies.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Physics Mon, 04 Mar 2024 12:00:01 EST news628775481 In the predawn hours of Sept. 5, 2021, engineers achieved a major milestone in the labs of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC), when a new type of magnet, made from high-temperature superconducting material, achieved a world-record magnetic field strength of 20 tesla for a large-scale magnet. That's the intensity needed to build a fusion power plant that is expected to produce a net output of power and potentially usher in an era of virtually limitless power production. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-high-temperature-superconducting-magnets-ready.html Superconductivity Plasma Physics Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:52:12 EST news628775519 Robots and cameras of the future could be made of liquid crystals, thanks to a new discovery that significantly expands the potential of the chemicals already common in computer displays and digital watches. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-key-future-robots-liquid-crystals.html Condensed Matter Soft Matter Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:50:38 EST news628775434 Falling from the tip of a brush suspended in mid-air, an ink droplet touches a painted surface and blossoms into a masterpiece of ever-changing beauty. It weaves a tapestry of intricate, evolving patterns. Some of them resemble branching snowflakes, thunderbolts or neurons, whispering the unique expression of the artist's vision. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-ink-physics.html Soft Matter Mon, 04 Mar 2024 10:15:12 EST news628769708 Quantum sensor technology promises even more precise measurements of physical quantities. A team led by Christian Roos at the University of Innsbruck has now compared the signals of up to 91 quantum sensors with one another and thus successfully eliminated the noise caused by interactions with the environment. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-spectroscopy-network-quantum-sensors-boosts.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Physics Mon, 04 Mar 2024 09:41:12 EST news628767669 Most people know about solids, liquids, and gases as the main three states of matter, but a fourth state of matter exists as well. Plasma—also known as ionized gas—is the most abundant, observable form of matter in our universe, found in the sun and other celestial bodies. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-plasma-oscillations-propel-breakthroughs-fusion.html Plasma Physics Mon, 04 Mar 2024 08:48:32 EST news628764503 Researchers in Imperial College London's Department of Materials have developed a new portable maser that can fit the size of a shoebox. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-maser-shoebox-portable-precision.html General Physics Condensed Matter Fri, 01 Mar 2024 11:55:15 EST news628516512 In day-to-day life, light seems intangible. We walk through it and create and extinguish it with the flip of a switch. But, like matter, light actually carries a little punch—it has momentum. Light constantly nudges things and can even be used to push spacecraft. Light can also spin objects if it carries orbital angular momentum (OAM)—the property associated with a rotating object's tendency to keep spinning. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-laser-merry.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 01 Mar 2024 11:55:06 EST news628516502 The thermal hall effect (THE) is a physical phenomenon characterized by tiny transverse temperature differences occurring in a material when a thermal current passes through it and a perpendicular magnetic field is applied to it. This effect has been observed in a growing number of insulators, yet its underlying physics remains poorly understood. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-evidence-phonon-chirality-impurity-antiferromagnetic.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Fri, 01 Mar 2024 07:20:01 EST news628499249 The question of where the boundary between classical and quantum physics lies is one of the longest-standing pursuits of modern scientific research, and in new research published today, scientists demonstrate a novel platform that could help us find an answer. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-scientists-nanoparticles-unravel-quantum-limits.html Quantum Physics Fri, 01 Mar 2024 05:00:01 EST news628444354 From televisions to X-ray machines, many modern technologies are enabled by electrons that have been juiced up by a particle accelerator. Now, the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has worked with General Atomics and other partners to unlock even more applications by exploring the process of designing, prototyping and testing particle accelerators that are more powerful and efficient, while also less expensive and bulky. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-cooled-cavity-feasible-commercial-applications.html General Physics Superconductivity Thu, 29 Feb 2024 16:40:05 EST news628447201 For a long time, it was thought that amorphous solids do not selectively absorb light because of their disordered atomic structure. However, a new uOttawa study disproves this theory and shows that amorphous solids actually exhibit dichroism, meaning that they selectively absorb light of different polarizations. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-scientists-reveal-formless-solids.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 29 Feb 2024 10:51:49 EST news628426306 Improved neutron mirrors can increase the efficiency of material analysis in neutron sources such as the European Spallation Source. The improved mirror has been developed by researchers at Linköping University by coating a silicon plate with extremely thin layers of iron and silicon mixed with boron carbide. Their study has been published in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-neutron-mirrors-reveal-secrets.html General Physics Thu, 29 Feb 2024 10:34:03 EST news628425241 Playing a different soundtrack is, physically speaking, only a minute change of the vibration spectrum, yet its impact on a dance floor is dramatic. People long for this tiny trigger, and as a salsa changes to a tango completely different collective patterns emerge. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-music-cooperative-electronic-states-kagome.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Thu, 29 Feb 2024 10:31:03 EST news628425061