Physics
press releases.

Physics29 Jun 2023

New single-photon Raman lidar can monitor for underwater oil leaks

WASHINGTON — Researchers report a new single-photon Raman lidar system that operates underwater and can remotely distinguish various substances. They also show that the new system can detect the thickness of the oil underwater up to 12 m away, which could be useful for detecting oil spills. “Differentiating substances in water and detecting their distribution characteristics in the ocean are of great significance for marine monitoring and scientific research,” said research team leader Mingjia Shangguan from Xiamen University in China. “For instance, the remote sensing of underwater oil that we ...

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Physics28 Jun 2023

NeuWS camera answers ‘holy grail problem’ in optical imaging

HOUSTON – (June 28, 2023) – Engineers from Rice University and the University of Maryland have created full-motion video technology that could potentially be used to make cameras that peer through fog, smoke, driving rain, murky water, skin, bone and other media that reflect scattered light and obscure objects from view. “Imaging through scattering media is the ‘holy grail problem’ in optical imaging at this point,” said Rice’s Ashok Veeraraghavan, co-corresponding author of an open-access study published today in Science Advances. ...

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Physics28 Jun 2023

New pulsed laser deposition tool to predict superconductor failures tool purchase underwritten by U.S. Navy

A researcher at the Advanced Manufacturing Institute and the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston (TCSUH) has found a way to reduce superconductor failures, enabled by a Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) tool. The popular thin film deposition instrument will be purchased with an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research. At extremely low temperatures (as low as cryogenic temperatures), superconductors allow electric current to flow without resistance and produce strong magnetic fields. That’s the principle behind Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) ...

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Physics28 Jun 2023

High-speed proton transaction

How did life begin on Earth? Experts have long been fascinated by this question and over the years have come up with a variety of theories. One hypothesis is that the origin of life can be traced back to warm little ponds which are thought to have existed on Earth four billion years ago. The water in these ponds probably contained urea molecules; these were exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, which at that time would have penetrated to the surface of the earth largely unimpeded. This high-energy radiation was able to convert ...

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Physics27 Jun 2023

Penn State researchers use ultrasound to control orientation of small particles

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Acoustic waves may be able to control how particles sort themselves. While researchers have been able to separate particles based on their shape — for example, bacteria from other cells — for years, the ability to control their movement has remained a largely unsolved problem, until now. Using ultrasound technology and a nozzle, Penn State researchers have separated, controlled and ejected different particles based on their shape and various properties. They ...

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Physics27 Jun 2023

Fondant: Where baking and thermodynamics mix

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2023 – With their unique appearance, texture, and mouthfeel, fondants have intrigued bakers and physicists for years. They present an appetizing enigma in the world of confectionery, an intriguing combination of sugar, water, and heat that, when manipulated correctly, yields a delectably creamy product. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research and Technische Universität Berlin studied the kinetic and thermodynamic processes of sugar crystallization in the making of fondant. In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, they combined a controlled kneading machine with light microscopy ...

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Physics26 Jun 2023

Poop and prey help researchers estimate that gray whales off Oregon Coast consume millions of microparticles per day

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University researchers estimate that gray whales feeding off the Oregon Coast consume up to 21 million microparticles per day, a finding informed in part by poop from the whales. Microparticle pollution includes microplastics and other human-sourced materials, including fibers from clothing. The finding, just published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, is important because these particles are increasing exponentially and predicted to continue doing so in the coming decades, according to researchers Leigh Torres and Susanne Brander. Microparticle pollution is a threat to the health of ...

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Physics22 Jun 2023

Physicists discover a new switch for superconductivity

Under certain conditions — usually exceedingly cold ones — some materials shift their structure to unlock new, superconducting behavior. This structural shift is known as a “nematic transition,” and physicists suspect that it offers a new way to drive materials into a superconducting state where electrons can flow entirely friction-free. But what exactly drives this transition in the first place? The answer could help scientists improve existing superconductors and discover new ones. Now, MIT physicists have identified the key to how one class of superconductors undergoes a nematic transition, and it’s in surprising contrast to what ...

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Physics21 Jun 2023

Atoms realize a Laughlin state

The discovery of the quantum Hall effects in the 1980's revealed the existence of novel states of matter called "Laughlin states", in honor of the American Nobel prize winner who successfully characterized them theoretically. These exotic states specifically emerge in 2D materials, at very low temperature and in the presence of an extremely strong magnetic field. In a Laughlin state, electrons form a peculiar liquid, where each electron dances around its congeners while avoiding them as much as possible. Exciting such a quantum liquid generates collective states that physicists associate to fictitious particles, whose ...

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Physics21 Jun 2023

Direct photons point to positive gluon polarization

UPTON, NY— A new publication by the PHENIX Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) provides definitive evidence that gluon “spins” are aligned in the same direction as the spin of the proton they’re in. The result, just published in Physical Review Letters, provides theorists with new input for calculating how much gluons—the gluelike particles that hold quarks together within protons and neutrons—contribute to a proton’s ...

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Physics19 Jun 2023

Bridging traditional economics and econophysics

How do asset markets work? Which stocks behave similarly? Economists, physicists, and mathematicians work intensively to draw a picture but need to learn what is happening outside their discipline. A new paper now builds a bridge. In a new study, researchers of the Complexity Science Hub highlight the connecting elements between traditional financial market research and econophysics. "We want to create an overview of the models that exist in financial economics and those that researchers in physics and mathematics have developed ...

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Physics16 Jun 2023

CityU researchers invent a low-temperature synthesis method for high-quality tellurium nanomesh for next-generation electronics

A collaborative team led by researchers from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) recently invented an innovative method for synthesizing high-quality, semiconducting nanomesh at a lower temperature and production cost than conventional methods. The findings will help enable the large-scale production of nanomesh for next-generation electronics. Nanomesh is a nano-scale material formed from a network of nanowires. For several decades, one-dimensional materials like nanowires made of crystalline inorganic materials have been widely explored as the main driver for emerging electronics, as they have features like mechanical flexibility, ...

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Physics14 Jun 2023

IEEE Photonics Society in search for Editor-in-Chief

The IEEE Photonics Society invites applications and nominations for the volunteer position of Editor-in-Chief (EiC) for the IEEE Photonics Journal, delivered through IEEE’s research digital library IEEE Xplore. The term for the current EiC will end this year and the Society is conducting an open search for potential candidates. “The IEEE Photonics Journal led the way for the IEEE, being the IEEE’s first open access journal. We’re excited to find a candidate who can lead this pioneering journal for the next term, and I encourage all qualified ...

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Physics14 Jun 2023

A novel technique to observe colloidal particle degradation in real time

In the early 2000s, scientists from the UK made a worrisome discovery that the oceans are teeming with small particles of plastic (less than one millimeter in length) due to the continuous degradation of plastic waste. These microscopic particles of plastic have become a major environmental concern. Scientists classify these small particles as either microplastics or nanoplastics based on their size; the latter term is used exclusively for particles smaller than one micrometer. These particles easily get embedded into the bodies of marine and freshwater animals, ...

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Physics12 Jun 2023

New method enables study of nano-sized particles

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have created a new method of studying the smallest bioparticles in the body. The study, which is published in Nature Biotechnology, has considerable scientific potential, such as in the development of more effective vaccines. Circulating around the body are nanoparticles that affect it in one way or another. For example, there are lipoproteins that maintain cell metabolism, pathogenic viruses that cause many diseases and lipid nanoparticles that are used to carry drugs, like recent lipid nanoparticle-based mRNA vaccines. However, ...

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Physics9 Jun 2023

Jiu Jitsu club stage physical assaults to help advance forensic research

Researchers from Northumbria University and King’s College London have published findings outlining the extent that textile fibres transfer during controlled assault scenarios. Their work, recently published in the academic journal Science & Justice, is the first time the number of fibres transferred between garments during physical assaults has been assessed by simulating the act with real people through Northumbria University’s Jiu Jitsu club. Dr Kelly Sheridan, Assistant Professor of Forensic Science in Northumbria’s Department of Applied Sciences, believes the findings will ...

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Physics9 Jun 2023

Scientists make a surprising discovery about magnetic defects in topological insulators

Scientists from the Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory made an intriguing discovery while conducting experiments to characterize magnetism in a material known as a dilute magnetic topological insulator where magnetic defects are introduced. Despite this material’s ferromagnetism, the team discovered strong antiferromagnetic interactions between some pairs of magnetic defects that play a key role in several families of magnetic topological insulators. Topological insulators (TIs) as their name indicates, ...

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Physics9 Jun 2023

University of Minnesota theoretical physicists help expand the search for new particle

One of the most high-profile mysteries in physics today is what scientists refer to as the “Strong CP Problem.” Stemming from the puzzling phenomenon that neutrons do not interact with electric fields despite being made up of quarks—smaller, fundamental particles that carry electric charges—the Strong CP Problem puts into question the Standard Model of physics, or the set of theories scientists have been using to explain the laws of nature for years. A team led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities theoretical physicists has discovered a new way to search for axions, hypothetical particles that could help solve this mystery. Working ...

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Physics7 Jun 2023

Calculation shows why heavy quarks get caught up in the flow

UPTON, NY—Using some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, a group of theorists has produced a major advance in the field of nuclear physics—a calculation of the “heavy quark diffusion coefficient.” This number describes how quickly a melted soup of quarks and gluons—the building blocks of protons and neutrons, which are set free in collisions of nuclei at powerful particle colliders—transfers its momentum to heavy quarks. The answer, it turns out, is very fast. As described in a paper just published in Physical Review Letters, the momentum transfer from the “freed up” ...

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Physics6 Jun 2023

Revolutionizing optical control with topological edge states

Nanophotonics and topology have gained significant interest due to the unique properties they offer. One area of focus is the investigation of topological edge states (TESs). These states have captured widespread attention because they are very resistant to errors and imperfections. Arising from topologically nontrivial phases, TESs provide a powerful toolkit for the architectural design of photonic integrated circuits. TES transport has led to the discovery of various intriguing optical effects and applications, including directional couplers, one-way waveguides, mode-locked waveguides, ...

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Physics6 Jun 2023

Motor skills and physical activity practice supports preschoolers’ learning

A doctoral thesis has demonstrated that motor skills and physical activity practice can support the cognitive and early academic skills of preschoolers, particularly when the activities include motor skills practice, or when motor skills or physical activity practice is combined with the subject to be learnt. In recent years, concerns have been raised about children and adolescents being less physically active and having weaker motor skills than previous generations. A further cause of concern is the decline of for instance mathematical and language skills, with an increasing number of children ...

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Physics1 Jun 2023

Autonomous realignment and self-healing in multilayer soft electronic devices

By combining two dynamic polymers, researchers present a new method for achieving autonomous realignment and self-healing in multilayered soft electronic devices and robots, according to a new study. Like human skin, self-healing polymers allow soft electronic and robotic devices to recover autonomously from various forms of damage. Such devices are often multilayered and embedded with conductive or dielectric materials to achieve functional properties while also maintaining the soft mechanical properties of the self-healing ...

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Physics1 Jun 2023

Low-temperature method for 3D printing nanoscale optical-grade glass

A hybrid organic-inorganic polymer resin enables the three-dimensional (3D) printing of nanoscale optical-grade glass at temperatures roughly half of what other approaches require, researchers report. According to the authors, the approach may help redefine the paradigm for the free-form manufacturing of silica glass and enable its use across a wide variety of new technological applications. Silica glasses possess a unique combination of properties, making them one of the most important materials for ...

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Physics1 Jun 2023

Early career scientist wins prestigious Hungarian physics award

Laszlo Horvath, an early career physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) stationed at General Atomics in San Diego, is the winner of the 2022 Károly Simonyi Memorial Plaque from the Hungarian Nuclear Society. Established in 2007, the plaque “recognizes Hungarian researchers and engineers with outstanding achievements in the field of fusion plasma physics and technology.” Horvath learned he had won the Simonyi Memorial Plaque not long ...

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Physics31 May 2023

Scientists’ report world’s first X-ray of a single atom in Nature

A team of scientists from Ohio University, Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and others, led by Ohio University Professor of Physics, and Argonne National Laboratory scientist, Saw Wai Hla, have taken the world’s first X-ray SIGNAL (or SIGNATURE) of just one atom. This groundbreaking achievement was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences and could revolutionize the way scientists detect the materials. Since its discovery by Roentgen ...

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