Yale-NUS Associate Professor of Science (Physics) Shaffique Adam is the lead author for a recent work that describes a model for electron interaction in Dirac materials, a class of materials that includes graphene and topological insulators, solving a 65-year-old open theoretical problem in the process. The discovery will help scientists better understand electron interaction in…
Novel Approach to Coherent Control of a Three-Level Quantum System
For the first time, researchers were able to study quantum interference in a three-level quantum system and thereby control the behavior of individual electron spins. To this end, they used a novel nanostructure, in which a quantum system is integrated into a nanoscale mechanical oscillator in form of a diamond cantilever. Nature Physics has published…
Household Phenomenon Observed by Leonardo da Vinci Finally Explained
An everyday occurrence spotted when we turn on the tap to brush our teeth has baffled engineers for centuries—why does the water splay when it hits the sink before it heads down the plughole? Famous inventor and painter Leonardo da Vinci documented the phenomenon, now known as a hydraulic jump, back in the 1500s. Hydraulic…
Researchers Develop Method to Monitor Motion Using Radio Waves
An international team of scientist have discovered a way to produce more accurate motion sensors using radio waves. Researchers from both Duke University and the Institut Langevin in France have found patterns made by radio waves can detect where a person is inside of a room, which could yield new motion-sensing technology for smart home…
Particle Physicists Team Up with AI to Solve Toughest Science Problems
New Optical Technology Filters Wider Range of Light Wavelengths
New optical filter technology may yield greater precision and flexibility in a bevy of applications, including designing optical communication and sensor systems and studying photons and other particles through ultrafast techniques. A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has created a new optical filter on a chip that is able to process optical…
New Algorithm Could Help Find New Physics
Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed an algorithm that could provide meaningful answers to condensed matter physicists in their searches for novel and emergent properties in materials. The algorithm, invented by physics professor Bryan Clark and his graduate student Eli Chertkov, inverts the typical mathematical process condensed matter physicists use to…
Researchers Develop a New Method to Detect Nucleation
Blasting Tiny Craters in Glass, Creating Material to Miniaturize Telecommunication Devices
Modern communication systems often employ optical fibers to carry signals across or between devices. The integrated optics in these devices combine more than one function into a single circuit. However, signal transmission requires long optical fibers, which makes it difficult to miniaturize the device. Instead of long optical fibers, scientists have started testing planar waveguides.…
A Domestic Electron Ion Collider Would Unlock Scientific Mysteries of Atomic Nuclei
Light Emitting Nanocrystals Tunnel Electrons Through Tiny Barriers
Researchers from the University of California San Diego have used advanced fabrication techniques to build a nanosized device out of silver crystals that is able to generate light by efficiently tunneling electrons through a small barrier. The new insight could bring researchers one-step closer to realizing ultra-compact light sources for high speed, optical data processing…
World’s Fastest Man-Made Spinning Object Could Help Study Quantum Mechanics
Researchers have created the fastest man-made rotor in the world, which they believe will help them study quantum mechanics. At more than 60 billion revolutions per minute, this machine is more than 100,000 times faster than a high-speed dental drill. “This study has many applications, including material science,” said Tongcang Li, an assistant professor of…
World’s Fastest Man-Made Spinning Object Could Help Study Quantum Mechanics
Researchers have created the fastest man-made rotor in the world, which they believe will help them study quantum mechanics. At more than 60 billion revolutions per minute, this machine is more than 100,000 times faster than a high-speed dental drill. “This study has many applications, including material science,” said Tongcang Li, an assistant professor of…
No More Zigzags: Scientists Uncover Mechanism That Stabilizes Fusion Plasmas
Sawtooth swings — up-and-down ripples found in everything from stock prices on Wall Street to ocean waves — occur periodically in the temperature and density of the plasma that fuels fusion reactions in doughnut-shaped facilities called tokamaks. These swings can sometimes combine with other instabilities in the plasma to produce a perfect storm that halts…
Study of High-Energy Neutrinos Again Proves Einstein Right
Researchers Interpret New Experimental Data Aimed at Showing Dark Matter Interacts With Ordinary Matter
Underlying Mechanism Discovered for Magnetic Effect in Superconducting Spintronics
The emerging field of spintronics leverages electron spin and magnetization. This could enhance the storage capacity of computer hard drives and potentially play an important role in quantum computing’s future. Superconductor-ferromagnet (SF) structures are widely regarded as the building blocks of this superconducting spintronic technology. More conventional spintronic devices typically require large currents, so researchers…
Newly Discovered Properties of Ferroelectric Crystal Shed Light on Branch of Materials
A Step Closer to Single-Atom Data Storage
Laser Experiments Lend Insight Into Metal Core at Heart of the Earth
‘Molecular Movie’ Captures Chemical Reaction on Atomic Scale
Laser lights. Electron camera. Reaction. A team of physicists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Stanford University and Europe has captured the clearest glimpse yet of a photochemical reaction—the type of light-fueled molecular transformations responsible for photosynthesis, vision and the ozone layer. The researchers precisely recorded how the atomic nuclei and chemical bonds of a five-atom…
Spectral Cloaking Could Make Objects Invisible Under Realistic Conditions
Researchers and engineers have long sought ways to conceal objects by manipulating how light interacts with them. A new study offers the first demonstration of invisibility cloaking based on the manipulation of the frequency (color) of light waves as they pass through an object, a fundamentally new approach that overcomes critical shortcomings of existing cloaking…
Atomic Movie of Melting Gold Could Help Design Materials for Future Fusion Reactors
Best Ever at Splitting Light, New Material Could Improve LEDs, Solar Cells, Optical Sensors
Place a chunk of the clear mineral Iceland spar on top of an image and suddenly you’ll see double, thanks to a phenomenon called double refraction—a result of a quality of the crystal material called optical anisotropy. Beyond just a nifty trick, materials with optical anisotropy are vital for a variety of devices such as…
Squeezing Light at the Nanoscale—Ultra-Confined Light Could Detect Harmful Molecules
Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a new technique to squeeze infrared light into ultra-confined spaces, generating an intense, nanoscale antenna that could be used to detect single biomolecules. The researchers harnessed the power of polaritons, particles that blur the distinction between light and matter.…