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. New interference radar functions employed by a team of researchers from Chapman University and other institutions improve the distance resolution between objects using radar waves. The results may have important ramifications in military, construction, archaeology, mineralogy and many other domains of radar applications. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-radar-century-old-trade-off-wavelength-distance.html General Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:18:04 EDT news610211879 Rice University physicists have shown that immutable topological states, which are highly sought for quantum computing, can be entangled with other manipulable quantum states in some materials. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-materials-immutable-topological-states-entangled.html General Physics Quantum Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:10:29 EDT news610211424 A collaboration of nuclear theorists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Temple University, Adam Mickiewicz University of Poland, and the University of Bonn, Germany, has used supercomputers to predict the spatial distributions of charges, momentum, and other properties of "up" and "down" quarks within protons. The results, just published in Physical Review D, revealed key differences in the characteristics of the up and down quarks. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-reveal-high-resolution-view-quarks-protons.html Quantum Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:18:35 EDT news610201107 A common metal paper clip will stick to a magnet. Scientists classify such iron-containing materials as ferromagnets. A little over a century ago, physicists Albert Einstein and Wander de Haas reported a surprising effect with a ferromagnet. If you suspend an iron cylinder from a wire and expose it to a magnetic field, it will start rotating if you simply reverse the direction of the magnetic field. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-scientists-unusual-ultrafast-motion-layered.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:17:30 EDT news610201043 "A place for everything and everything in its place"—making sense of order, or disorder, helps us understand nature. Animals tend to fit nicely into categories: Mammals, birds, reptiles, whatever an axolotl is, and more. Sorting also applies to materials: Insulator, semiconductor, conductor, and even superconductor. Where exactly a material lands in the hierarchy depends on a seemingly invisible interplay of electrons, atoms, and their surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-rare-physics-superconductor.html Superconductivity Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:15:33 EDT news610200917 At particle accelerator facilities around the world, scientists rely on powerful X-rays to reveal the structure and behavior of atoms and molecules. Now, researchers from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have calculated how to make X-ray pulses at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL) even brighter and more reliable by building a special cavity chamber and diamond mirrors around an XFEL. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-x-ray-laser-brightness-power-crystal.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:10:10 EDT news610200606 Electronic devices typically use the charge of electrons, but spin—their other degree of freedom—is starting to be exploited. Spin defects make crystalline materials highly useful for quantum-based devices such as ultrasensitive quantum sensors, quantum memory devices, or systems for simulating the physics of quantum effects. Varying the spin density in semiconductors can lead to new properties in a material—something researchers have long wanted to explore—but this density is usually fleeting and elusive, thus hard to measure and control locally. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-microscopic-density-materials.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:39:34 EDT news610191567 Atomic nuclei consist of nucleons such as protons and neutrons, which are bound together by nuclear force or strong interaction. This force allows protons and neutrons to form bound states; however, when only two neutrons are involved, the attractive force is slightly insufficient to create such a state. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-neutron-pairs-helium-nuclei.html General Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 08:13:00 EDT news610182709 A University of Minnesota-led team has, for the first time, engineered an atomically thin material that can absorb nearly 100% of light at room temperature, a discovery that could improve a wide range of applications from optical communications to stealth technology. Their paper has been published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-team-near-perfect-absorption-atomic-scale-material.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 08:05:27 EDT news610182324 The road to a quantum future may be longer and more winding than some expect, but the potential it holds is profound, writes UTS Associate Professor Chris Ferrie. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-quantum.html Quantum Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 07:55:38 EDT news610181731 Quantum field theory is a framework used by physicists to describe a wide range of phenomena in particle physics and is an effective tool to deal with complicated many-body problems or interacting systems. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-many-body-interactions-thermal-field-theory.html Quantum Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 07:52:12 EDT news610181528 Optical phase retrieval and imaging appear in a wide variety of science fields, such as imaging of quasi-transparent biological samples or nanostructures metrological characterization, for example, in the semiconductor industry. At a fundamental level, the limit to imaging accuracy in classical systems comes from the intrinsic fluctuation of the illuminating light, since the photons that form it are emitted randomly by conventional sources and behave independently of one another. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-quantum-enhanced-non-interferometric-quantitative-phase-imaging.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Physics Tue, 01 Aug 2023 17:10:01 EDT news610128022 The laser is so small you need a microscope to see it properly. But it's not just the size that scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are excited about. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-shrunken-laser.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 01 Aug 2023 16:19:04 EDT news610125541 Acquiring real-time spectral information in point-of-care diagnosis, internet-of-things, and other lab-on-chip applications requires spectrometers with hetero-integration capability and miniaturized features. Compared to conventional semiconductors integrated by heteroepitaxy, solution-processable semiconductors provide a much-flexible integration platform due to their solution-processability, and therefore, are more suitable for the multi-material integrated system. However, solution-processable semiconductors are usually incompatible with micro-fabrication processes, making them far from practical use in various lab-on-chip applications. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-platform-spectrometers-based-solution-processable-semiconductors.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 01 Aug 2023 15:04:03 EDT news610121042 A new variable selection method for use in chemometrics applications has recently been proposed by a team of researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They call the algorithm multi-weight optimal-bootstrap soft shrinkage (MWO-BOSS). The work is published in Infrared Physics & Technology. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-algorithm-efficient-variables-chemometrics-applications.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 01 Aug 2023 13:28:46 EDT news610115324 Researchers at Purdue University are advancing the world of robotics and autonomy with their patent-pending method that improves on traditional machine vision and perception. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-thermal-imaging-ai-pitch-darkness.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 01 Aug 2023 13:14:18 EDT news610114453 Can one see through a scattering medium like ground glass? Conventionally, such a feat would be deemed impossible. As light travels through an opaque medium, the information contained in the light becomes "jumbled up," almost as if undergoes complex encryption. Recently, Professor Choi Wonshik's team from the IBS Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics (IBS CMSD) has discovered a way to utilize this phenomenon in optical computing and machine learning. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-exploiting-nonlinear-medium-optical-encryption.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 01 Aug 2023 10:03:04 EDT news610102981 An international team of physicists has found that deep-learning AI technology can accurately quantify the amount of entanglement in a given system—prior research has shown that the degree of "quantumness" of a given system can be described by a single number. In their paper, published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes their technique and how well it worked when tested in a real-world environment. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-ai-accurately-quantify-amount-entanglement.html Quantum Physics Tue, 01 Aug 2023 09:27:03 EDT news610100819 Technological advancements like autonomous driving and computer vision are driving a surge in demand for computational power. Optical computing, with its high throughput, energy efficiency, and low latency, has garnered considerable attention from academia and industry. However, current optical computing chips face limitations in power consumption and size, which hinders the scalability of optical computing networks. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-harnessing-power-advancements-photonic-memory.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 16:29:02 EDT news610039741 A research team led by Prof. Yossi Paltiel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with groups from HUJI, Weizmann and IST Austria has published a new study that reveals the influence of nuclear spin on biological processes. This discovery challenges long-held assumptions and opens up exciting possibilities for advancements in biotechnology and quantum biology. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-uncover-nuclear-impact-biological.html General Physics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 15:19:50 EDT news610035548 Everyday life involves the three dimensions (3D), along an X, Y and Z axis, or up and down, left and right, and forward and back. But in recent years scientists, like Guoliang Huang, the Huber and Helen Croft Chair in Engineering at the University of Missouri, have explored a "fourth dimension" (4D), or synthetic dimension, as an extension of our current physical reality. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-scientists-approach-energy-4d.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:53:02 EDT news610033981 Last week, a group of South Korean physicists made a startling claim. In two papers uploaded to the arXiv preprint server, they say they have created a material that "opens a new era for humankind." https://phys.org/news/2023-07-viral-room-temperature-superconductor-excitementand-skepticism.html Superconductivity Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:30:01 EDT news610028777 Quantum memory that depends on quantum-band integration is a key building block used to develop quantum networks that are compatible with fiber communication infrastructures. Quantum engineers and IT specialists have yet to create such a network with large capacity to form an integrated multimode photonic quantum memory at telecom band. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-telecom-band-integrated-multimode-photonic-quantum-memory.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Physics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:10:54 EDT news610027848 Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have uncovered the physics behind how foams spread on surfaces. The scientists placed balls of foam on a flat substrate and then scraped across it with a plate. They identified different patterns that strongly depended on the scraping speed, which was governed by competing physical phenomena. Their findings can be applied to all types of soft materials that need to be spread evenly on surfaces, from mayonnaise on bread to insulation on walls. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-scientists-uncover-foams-surfaces.html Soft Matter Mon, 31 Jul 2023 12:21:03 EDT news610024862 It isn't just your refrigerator that has magnets on it. The Earth, the stars, galaxies, and the space between galaxies are all magnetized, too. The more places scientists have looked for magnetic fields across the universe, the more they've found them. But the question of why that is the case and where those magnetic fields originate from has remained a mystery and a subject of ongoing scientific inquiry. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-clues-source-universe-magnetic-fields.html Plasma Physics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 12:11:03 EDT news610024261 Many substances change their properties when they are cooled below a certain critical temperature. Such a phase transition occurs, for example, when water freezes. However, in certain metals there are phase transitions that do not exist in the macrocosm. They arise because of the special laws of quantum mechanics that apply in the realm of nature's smallest building blocks. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-electrons-slowly-cooling-effect-unique.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 11:58:04 EDT news610023482 Bringing protons up to speed with strong laser pulses—this still young concept promises many advantages over conventional accelerators. For instance, it seems possible to build much more compact facilities. Prototypes to date, however, in which laser pulses are fired at ultra-thin metal foils, show weaknesses—especially in the frequency with which they can accelerate protons. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-method-proton-high-power-laser.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 11:34:04 EDT news610022042 Topology plays an enormous role in modern condensed matter physics and beyond. It describes how solid materials can combine two very different and somewhat contradictory properties—for example, topological insulators are materials whose bulk acts as an insulator, but whose surfaces and edges can conduct electricity nonetheless. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-evidence-universal-topological-signatures-high.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 10:57:03 EDT news610019821 A research team led by Prof. Wu Yuntao from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with collaborators from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, has developed a new type of inorganic scintillator for high-resolution, fast X-ray imaging. The study was published in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-scintillator-benign-grain-boundaries-high-resolution.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 09:59:31 EDT news610016367 Merons, topological structures based on in-plane magnetized magnetic materials, could have numerous valuable applications, particularly for carrying information or storing magnetic charge. Most past realizations of these structures, however, were limited in size and thermal stability or had impractical requirements, such as the application of external magnetic fields. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-millimeter-scale-meron-lattices-injectors.html Condensed Matter Mon, 31 Jul 2023 09:29:08 EDT news610014541