Phys.org Physics

• Hidden side channels in quantum sources could compromise secure communication

  A team of researchers from University of Toronto Engineering has discovered hidden multi-dimensional side channels in existing quantum communication protocols.

• Vincent van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' is not a masterpiece when it comes to flow physics, researchers say

  The Dutch master Vincent van Gogh may have painted one of Western history's most enduring works, but "The Starry Night" is not a masterpiece of flow physics—despite recent attention to its captivating swirls, according to researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Washington.

• A step toward plant-based gelatin: Gum tragacanth shows promise for reducing animal use

  With increased awareness about food sources and their environmental impacts, replacing animal-derived products in food and drugs is a significant research area. One common—but often overlooked—animal protein is gelatin, found everywhere from candy to plastic-free packaging.

• Magnesium becomes a possible superconductor near the 2D limit

  Magnesium is a common chemical element, an alkaline earth metal, which is highly chemically reactive and is very light (even lighter than aluminum). Magnesium is abundant in plants and minerals and plays a role in human physiology and metabolism. In the cosmos, it is produced by large aging stars.

• Revolutionizing 3D vision: How miniaturized snapshot polarization imaging is transforming depth sensing

  Capturing precise 3D details with a single camera has long been a challenge. Traditional methods often require complex dual-camera setups or specialized lighting conditions that are impractical for real-world applications. However, a groundbreaking approach developed at Nanjing University is set to redefine 3D imaging.

• 'Superhuman vision': Powerful 3D imaging technology paves way for next-generation eye-tracking

  Eye tracking plays a critical role in the latest virtual and augmented reality headsets and is an important technology in the entertainment industry, scientific research, medical and behavioral sciences, automotive driving assistance and industrial engineering. Tracking the movements of the human eye with high accuracy, however, is a daunting challenge.

• A quantum superhighway for ultrafast NOON states

  Until now, creating quantum superpositions of ultra-cold atoms has been a real headache, too slow to be realistic in the laboratory. Researchers at the University of Liège have now developed an innovative new approach combining geometry and "quantum control," which drastically speeds up the process, paving the way for practical applications in quantum technologies.

• No technical obstacles to new giant particle collider in Europe: CERN

  Europe's CERN laboratory said on Monday that a detailed analysis revealed no technical obstacles to building the world's biggest particle collider, even as critics took issue with the "pharaonic" $17-billion project.

• Study resolves long-standing debate on low-pressure phase transitions in hafnium oxide

  Researchers from the Institute of Solid State Physics, the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Southwest Jiaotong University, have combined high-pressure electrical transport experiments, high-pressure Raman spectroscopy, and first-principles calculations to reveal the structural phase transition behavior of hafnium oxide (HfO2) under high pressure and its evolution mechanism in electrical properties.

• Europe's plans for an even bigger particle collider, explained

  Europe's physics lab CERN is planning to build a particle-smasher even bigger than its Large Hadron Collider to continue searching for answers to some of the universe's tiniest yet most profound mysteries.

• Sophisticated sensors offer precision measurement for fusion research

  Nuclear fusion is a source of great hope for future energy security, with this field being explored in research reactors around the world. Accurately detecting their performance requires measurement systems that supply valid data even under extreme conditions. And the centerpiece of those systems are the bolometers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microengineering and Microsystems IMM. Experts from the institute will be presenting their sophisticated sensors at the joint Fraunhofer booth (Hall 2, Booth B24) at this year's Hannover Messe trade show from March 31 to April 4.

• Researchers propose a simple magnetic switch using altermagnets

  Controlling magnetism in a device is not easy; unusually large magnetic fields or lots of electricity are needed, which are bulky, slow, expensive and/or waste energy. But that looks soon to change, thanks to the recent discovery of altermagnets. Now scientists are putting forth ideas for efficient switches to manage magnetism in devices.

• The hidden superconducting state in NbSe₂: Shedding layers and gaining insights

  Researchers have discovered an unexpected superconducting transition in extremely thin films of niobium diselenide (NbSe2). Publishing in Nature Communications, they found that when these films become thinner than six atomic layers, superconductivity no longer spreads evenly throughout the material, but instead becomes confined to its surface.

• Faux gras? Scientists craft 'more ethical' version of French delicacy

  Foie gras—the fattened liver of ducks or geese—is a French delicacy prized for its rich, buttery flavor. But its production, which involves force-feeding the animals, has led to bans in several countries.

• Study proposes new mechanism underpinning intrinsic strange metal behavior

  Quantum critical points are thresholds that mark the transition of materials between different electronic phases at absolute zero temperatures, around which they often exhibit exotic physical properties.

• Scientists develop method to speed up quantum measurements using space-time trade-off

  In an attempt to speed up quantum measurements, a new Physical Review Letters study proposes a space-time trade-off scheme that could be highly beneficial for quantum computing applications.

• Quantum entanglement reveals strange metals' unique electron behavior at critical point

  Scientists have long sought to unravel the mysteries of strange metals—materials that defy conventional rules of electricity and magnetism. Now, a team of physicists at Rice University has made a breakthrough in this area using a tool from quantum information science. Their study, published recently in Nature Communications, reveals that electrons in strange metals become more entangled at a crucial tipping point, shedding new light on the behavior of these enigmatic materials. The discovery could pave the way for advances in superconductors with the potential to transform energy use in the future.

• Quantum imaging method developed for enhanced image clarity

  For decades, quantum imaging has promised sharper images and greater light sensitivity than classical methods by exploiting the unique properties of quantum light, such as photon entanglement. But the approaches to do so rely on delicate, specially engineered light sources that are easily overwhelmed by real-world noise, and it is difficult to generate quantum light bright enough for practical use.

• Physicist revisits the computational limits of life and Schrödinger's essential question in the era of quantum computing

  More than 80 years ago, Erwin Schrödinger, a theoretical physicist steeped in the philosophy of Schopenhauer and the Upanishads, delivered a series of public lectures at Trinity College, Dublin, which eventually came to be published in 1944 under the title "What is Life?"

• Efficient light control: Meta-optics replace conventional lenses

  Conventional curved lenses, which direct light by refraction in glass or plastic, are often bulky and heavy, offering only limited control of light waves. Metasurfaces, in contrast, are flat and consist of an array of tiny structures known as meta-atoms. Meta-atoms influence light at a subwavelength scale and thus allow for highly precise control of the phase, amplitude, and polarization of light.

• Symmetry between up and down quarks is more broken than expected

  In late 2023, Wojciech Brylinski was analyzing data from the NA61/SHINE collaboration at CERN for his thesis when he noticed an unexpected anomaly—a strikingly large imbalance between charged and neutral kaons in argon–scandium collisions. He found that, instead of being produced in roughly equal numbers, charged kaons were produced 18.4% more often than neutral kaons.

• Commercial fusion power plant now closer to reality

  Successfully harnessing the power of fusion energy could lead to cleaner and safer energy for all—and contribute substantially to combating the climate crisis. Towards this goal, Type One Energy has published a comprehensive, self-consistent, and robust physics basis for a practical fusion pilot power plant.

• Thermopower-based technique can detect fractional quantum Hall states

  If one side of a conducting or semiconducting material is heated while the other remains cool, charge carriers move from the hot side to the cold side, generating an electrical voltage known as thermopower.

• The first comprehensive characterization of unconventional superconductivity arising from multipolar moments

  Superconductivity is a quantum phenomenon, observed in some materials, that entails the ability to conduct electricity with no resistance below a critical temperature. Over the past few years, physicists and material scientists have been trying to identify materials exhibiting this property (i.e., superconductors), while also gathering new insights about its underlying physical processes.

• New superconducting state discovered: Cooper-pair density modulation

  Superconductivity is a quantum physical state in which a metal is able to conduct electricity perfectly without any resistance. In its most familiar application, it enables powerful magnets in MRI machines to create the magnetic fields that allow doctors to see inside our bodies. Thus far, materials can only achieve superconductivity at extremely low temperatures, near absolute zero (a few tens of Kelvin or colder).