Our Galaxy’s gravitational field limits the accuracy of astrometric observations of distant objects. This is most clearly appeared for objects that are visually located behind the central regions of the Galaxy and the Galactic plane, where the deviation can be up to several dozen microarcseconds. And, more importantly, the effect of this gravitational “noise” cannot…
Scientists Identify Two Stable Helium Compounds
Although helium is the second most-abundant element (after hydrogen) in the universe, it doesn’t play well with others. It is a member of a family of seven elements called the noble gases, which are called that because of their chemical aloofness — they don’t easily form compounds with other elements. Helium, widely believed to be…
The Speed Limit for Intra-Chip Communications in Microprocessors of the Future
Researchers at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have developed a theory that gives the possibility to precisely predict the level of noise caused by the amplification of photonic and plasmonic signals in nanoscale optoelectronic circuits. In their research published in Physical Review Applied, the scientists propose an approach that can be used to evaluate…
Scientists Comb Through Bilayer Graphene
A team of scientists from Japan’s RIKEN research institute, the Institute for Theoretical and Applied Electrodynamics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, MIPT, All-Russia Research Institute of Automatics, and the University of Michigan has organized the available bibliographic data on bilayer graphene, a high-potential material with possible applications in electronics and optics. The review paper…
Scientists Model the Way into a Nuclear Future
Physicists from MIPT and the Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences described the mobility of line defects, or dislocations, in uranium dioxide. This will enable future predictions of nuclear fuel behavior under operating conditions. The research findings were published in the International Journal of Plasticity. Nuclear fuel has an immense potential,…
Scientists Find a Molecule to Fight Chemoresistant Cancer
A team of scientists from N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), N. K. Kol’tsov Institute of Developmental Biology of the RAS, and Immune Pharmaceuticals LLC led by MIPT’s Prof. Alexander Kiselyov has synthesized an antitumor compound that could be used to fight chemoresistant cancer. The research findings…
X-Ray Pulsars Fade as Propeller Effect Sets in
An international team of astrophysicists including Russian scientists from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), MIPT, and Pulkovo Observatory of RAS has detected an abrupt decrease of pulsar luminosity following giant outbursts. The phenomenon is associated with the so-called “propeller effect,” which was predicted more than 40 years ago. However,…
‘Pressure-Welding’ Nanotubes Create Ultra-Strong Material
Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Technological Institute for Superhard and Novel Carbon Materials (TISNCM), Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), and the National University of Science and Technology MISiS have shown that an ultrastrong material can be produced by “fusing” multiwall carbon nanotubes together. The research findings have been published in Applied Physics Letters. According to…
Nanosensors Identify Terrorist Threats, Pollution
Scientists from the Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ICP RAS) and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have demonstrated that sensors based on binary metal oxide nanocomposites are sensitive enough to identify terrorist threats and detect environmental pollutants. The results of their study have been published in…
UV Light Creates Better Smartphone Cameras
Photodetectors, which are used in a wide range of systems and devices — from smartphones to space stations — are typically only sensitive to light within a certain narrow bandwidth, which causes numerous problems to product developers. Together with their colleagues from China and Saudi Arabia, scientists at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)…
Computer Taught to Intuitively Predict Chemical Properties of Molecules
Physicists Develop Compact Graphene-Based Plasmon Generator
Researchers from MIPT’s Laboratory of 2D Materials’ Optoelectronics, Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics, and Tohoku University (Japan) have theoretically demonstrated the possibility of creating compact sources of coherent plasmons, which are the basic building blocks for future optoelectronic circuits. The way in which the device would operate is based on the unique properties of van…
Physicists ‘Dissolve’ Water in an Emerald
Scientists from MIPT and several research teams working in Russia and other European countries have been the first to reliably realize and document the phenomenon of water molecular dipoles ordering by confining water molecules within nanocages in a beryl crystal. The results of their work have been published in Nature Communications. In solid-state physics, the notion…
Why Russian Tuberculosis is Most Infectious
Researchers from the Federal Research and Clinical Centre of Physical-Chemical Medicine, and staff from MIPT’s Systems Biology Laboratory, the Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology and the St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute, conducted a large-scale analysis of the proteins and genomes of mycobacterium tuberculosis strains that are common in Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union and…
‘Sniffer Plasmons’ Could Detect Explosives
Physicists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have found that the two-dimensional form of carbon, known as graphene, might be the ideal material for manufacturing plasmonic devices capable of detecting explosive materials, toxic chemicals, and other organic compounds based on a single molecule, says an article published inPhysical Review B. Plasmons in…
Graphene Plasmons Sniff Out Explosives
Physicists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have found that the two-dimensional form of carbon, known as graphene, might be the ideal material for manufacturing plasmonic devices capable of detecting explosive materials, toxic chemicals, and other organic compounds based on a single molecule, says an article published in Physical Review B. Scientists…
Diamond-based Light Sources Will Lay Foundation for Future Quantum Communications
Graphene-like Films Cultivated from Salts to Boost Nanoelectronics
An international collaborative of researchers has used computer simulations to find the minimum thinness of a slab of salt in order for it to break up into graphene-like layers. Based on the computer simulation, they derived the equation for the number of layers in a crystal that will produce ultrathin films with applications in nanoelectronics.…
Experimental Electron Model Confirmed in Complex Molecules
Researchers from the Institute of Molecular Science and Technologies (ISTM-CNR, Italy), Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), and the University of Milan have experimentally confirmed a model to detect electron delocalization in molecules and crystals. The chemists, whose paper was published in Acta Crystallographica on April 1, 2016, have also illustrated examples on how the same…