Phys.org Physics

• Ultrafast optical technique reveals how electrical double layers form in liquids

  Charged surfaces in contact with liquids—such as biological cell walls or battery electrodes—attract oppositely charged ions from the liquid. This creates two distinct charged regions: the surface itself and a counter-charged region in the liquid: the so-called electrical double layer. While pivotal to energy storage devices, the speed of its formation has remained elusive.

• Magnetic confinement advance promises 100 times more fusion power at half the cost

  A team of fusion researchers at TAE Technologies, Inc., in the U.S., working with colleagues from the University of California, has developed a new type of fusion technology that the company claims produces 100 times the power of other designs while costing just half as much to run. Their study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

• Observatory develops high-efficiency muon detection system with novel plastic scintillator design

  Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) and the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) have developed a novel top veto tracker system for the Taishan Antineutrino Observatory (TAO) experiment.

• Hey, what are these curved green flashes above my polymer semiconductor?

  In every scientific discovery in the movies, a scientist observes something unexpected, scratches the side of his or her forehead and says "hmmmmm." In just such a moment in real life, scientists from Canada observed unexpected flashes of curved green light from a red light-emitting polymer above its surface. The flashes were reminiscent of the colored arcs that auroras take above Earth's poles, providing a clue as to their provenance.

• An earth-abundant mineral for sustainable spintronics

  In 2023, EPFL researchers succeeded in sending and storing data using charge-free magnetic waves called spin waves, rather than traditional electron flows. The team from the Lab of Nanoscale Magnetic Materials and Magnonics, led by Dirk Grundler, in the School of Engineering, used radiofrequency signals to excite spin waves enough to reverse the magnetization state of tiny nanomagnets.

• New physics theory to study low-energy excitations in quantum quasicrystals

  Quasicrystals, exotic states of matter characterized by an ordered structure with non-repeating spatial patterns, have been the focus of numerous recent physics studies due to their unique organization and resulting symmetries. Among the quasicrystals that have sparked significant interest among the physics community are so-called quantum quasicrystals, which are comprised of bosons (i.e., subatomic particles that have spin in integer values, such as 0, 1, 2, and so on, and can occupy the same quantum state simultaneously).

• New quantum optics theory proposes that classical interference arises from bright and dark states of light

  Classical physics theories suggest that when two or more electromagnetic waves interfere destructively (i.e., with their electric fields canceling each other out), they cannot interact with matter. In contrast, quantum mechanics theory suggests that light particles continue interacting with other matter even when their average electric field is equal to zero.

• Is our universe the ultimate computer?

  Whether we are simply characters in an advanced virtual world is a much-debated theory, challenging previous thinking about the universe and our existence.

• Portable Raman analyzer detects hydrogen leaks from a distance

  Researchers have developed a new portable Raman analyzer that can accurately measure very low concentrations of hydrogen gas in ambient air. The instrument could be useful for detecting hydrogen leaks, which pose serious safety risks due to the gas's flammability and tendency to accumulate in confined spaces.

• Quantum sensors tested for next-generation particle physics experiments

  To learn more about the nature of matter, energy, space, and time, physicists smash high-energy particles together in large accelerator machines, creating sprays of millions of particles per second of a variety of masses and speeds. The collisions may also produce entirely new particles not predicted by the standard model, the prevailing theory of fundamental particles and forces in our universe. Plans are underway to create more powerful particle accelerators, whose collisions will unleash even larger subatomic storms. How will researchers sift through the chaos?

• Scientists develop low-cost liquid lenses

  Filipino scientists have discovered a simple, affordable way to make dynamically adjustable water-based lenses that have a wide variety of potential future applications—from classrooms and research labs to cameras and even wearable gadgets. Their research is published in the journal Results in Optics.

• Nanophotonic platform boosts efficiency of nonlinear-optical quantum teleportation

  Researchers have long recognized that quantum communication systems would transmit quantum information more faithfully and be impervious to certain forms of error if nonlinear optical processes were used. However, past efforts at incorporating such processes could not operate with the extremely low light levels required for quantum communication.

• Video game-inspired algorithm rapidly detects high-energy particle collisions for future fusion reactors

  An innovative algorithm for detecting collisions of high-speed particles within nuclear fusion reactors has been developed, inspired by technologies used to determine whether bullets hit targets in video games. This advancement enables rapid predictions of collisions, significantly enhancing the stability and design efficiency of future fusion reactors.

• Direct lab observation reveals key mechanism behind cosmic particle acceleration

  Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) achieved the first direct laboratory observation of ion acceleration through reflection off laser-generated magnetized collisionless shocks. This observation demonstrates how ions gain energy by bouncing off supercritical shocks, central to the Fermi acceleration mechanism. The research is published in Science Advances.

• High-pressure electron tunneling spectroscopy reveals nature of superconductivity in hydrogen-rich compounds

  Scientists have achieved a major milestone in the quest to understand high-temperature superconductivity in hydrogen-rich materials. Using electron tunneling spectroscopy under high pressure, the international research team led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry has measured the superconducting gap of H3S—the material that set the high-pressure superconductivity record in 2015 and serves as the parent compound for subsequent high-temperature superconducting hydrides.

• Search for sterile neutrinos continues at nuclear reactors

  Neutrinos, elusive fundamental particles, can act as a window into the center of a nuclear reactor, the interior of the Earth, or some of the most dynamic objects in the universe. Their tendency to change "flavors" may provide clues into the prominence of matter over antimatter in the universe or explain the existence of dark matter.

• Quantum messages travel 254 km using existing infrastructure for the first time

  Quantum messages sent across a 254-km telecom network in Germany represent the first known report of coherent quantum communications using existing commercial telecommunication infrastructure.

• Tightening the math behind a key quantum process

  An exact expression for a key process needed in many quantum technologies has been derived by a RIKEN mathematical physicist and a collaborator. This could help to guide advances in quantum technologies.

• New microscope reveals quantum dance of atoms in twisted graphene

  In new research published in Nature, Weizmann Institute scientists introduce a powerful tool to explore quantum phenomena—the cryogenic Quantum Twisting Microscope (QTM).

• Physicists uncover hidden order in the quantum world through deconfined quantum critical points

  In the intricate world of quantum physics, where particles interact in ways that seem to defy the standard rules of space and time, lies a profound mystery that continues to captivate scientists: the nature of deconfined quantum critical points (DQCPs). These elusive critical phenomena break away from the conventional framework of physics, offering a fascinating glimpse into a realm where quantum matter behaves in ways that challenge our classical understanding of the fundamental forces shaping the universe.

• It's about (space-)time: Scientists explore new dimension for light

  By breaking a decades-old paradigm and rethinking the role that the dimension of time plays in physics, researchers from the University of Rostock and the University of Birmingham have discovered novel flashes of light that come from and go into nothingness—like magic at first glance but with deep mathematical roots that protect against all kinds of outside perturbations. Their findings have now been published in the journal Nature Photonics.

• Asymmetric molecular interactions may hold the secret to living matter

  Asymmetric interactions between molecules may serve as a stabilizing factor for biological systems. A new model by researchers in the Department of Living Matter Physics at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) reveals the regulatory role of non-reciprocity.

• Light fields with extraordinary structure: Plasmonic skyrmion bags

  A research group at the University of Stuttgart has manipulated light through its interaction with a metal surface so that it exhibits entirely new properties. The researchers have published their findings in Nature Physics.

• Variation in exhaled droplet characteristics may explain why some people are disease 'superspreaders'

  A team of infectious disease specialists and environmental engineers at Université Claude Bernard Lyon's, École Centrale de Lyon, in France, and the University of Rome La Sapienza, in Italy, has found via experiments that the physical characteristics of exhaled droplets play a role in the transmission of infectious diseases.

• Particle emission ratios offer new window into evolution of matter in the early universe

  Researchers from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have proposed a key indicator that may reveal the emergence of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) by analyzing particle "fingerprints" generated in heavy-ion collisions.