Physics and Matter News - April 2008 Archives

High-flying electrons may provide new test of quantum theory (4/30/2008)

Researchers believe they can achieve a significant increase in the accuracy of one of the fundamental constants of nature by boosting an electron to an orbit as far as possible from the atomic nucleus that binds it ...> Full Article

Physics Advance Leads to a Better Understanding of Optics at the Atomic Scale (4/29/2008)

Advance improves our understanding of how light interacts with matter, and could make possible the development of new integrated-circuit technologies that result in faster computers that use less energy. ...> Full Article

The Physics of Whipped Cream (4/28/2008)

Science experiment aboard space shuttle Columbia recovered and reviewed. ...> Full Article

Pinpoint microwave resolution could lead to wireless power transfer (4/27/2008)

Researchers have focused microwaves to specks 20 times smaller than their wavelength and five times smaller than other devices have achieved. ...> Full Article

Light research opens door for optical storage and computing (4/27/2008)

Photonics research hopes to use slow and fast light pulses to store and process information ...> Full Article

UK computing Grid warming up for world's largest experiment (4/26/2008)

UK scientists building a computing Grid for particle physics have launched the next phase of their project, in advance of the start of the world's largest experiment ...> Full Article

Scientists discover exotic quantum state of matter (4/25/2008)

'Quantum Hall-like effect' found in a bulk material without an applied magnetic field ...> Full Article

Mining for Dark Matter (4/24/2008)

Researchers are working on an experiment that will sit in an abandoned South Dakota goldmine, looking for evidence of dark matter. ...> Full Article

Second family of high-temperature superconductors discovered (4/23/2008)

Researchers in Japan and China have discovered a new family of high-temperature superconductors ...> Full Article

Getting Wired for Terahertz (4/21/2008)

A step toward circuits for superfast far-infrared computers ...> Full Article

From cartilage to fruit-fly wings, physicist studies 'squishiness' in everyday things (4/20/2008)

Figuring out the physics of how cartilage moves, is compressed, twisted and otherwise deformed to eventually be replaced by better, longer-lasting artificial cartilage is goal of projects ...> Full Article

Researchers discover chromium's hidden magnetic talents (4/19/2008)

Researchers have determined that the element chromium displays electrical properties of magnets in surprising ways ...> Full Article

What happens when you pop a quantum balloon? (4/18/2008)

Study finds striking similarities and differences between quantum and classical chaos ...> Full Article

Graphene used to create world's smallest transistor (4/18/2008)

Researchers have used the world's thinnest material to create the world's smallest transistor, one atom thick and ten atoms wide. ...> Full Article

Laser triggers electrical activity in thunderstorm for the first time (4/17/2008)

Device on mountaintop takes first step toward manmade lightning ...> Full Article

Micro Sensor and Micro Fridge Make Cool Pair (4/17/2008)

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have combined two tiny but powerful NIST inventions on a single microchip, a cryogenic sensor and a microrefrigerator. The combination offers the possibility of cheaper, simpler and faster precision analysis of materials such as semiconductors and stardust. ...> Full Article

Matter, Anti-matter and MICE (4/16/2008)

The quest to understand more about the mysterious neutrino particle which is thought to be responsible for this phenomenon has taken a major step forward. ...> Full Article

Gravity wave 'smoking gun' fizzles, according to physics researchers (4/15/2008)

But gravitational waves may be more sensitive probe of early universe physics than previously thought ...> Full Article

Ready to go: mobile terahertz devices (4/14/2008)

Terahertz waves, which until now have barely found their way out of the laboratory, could soon be in use as a versatile tool ...> Full Article

World's shortest single photon pulse created (4/13/2008)

The world's shortest light pulse containing just one photon has been produced ...> Full Article

New research institute for shock physics launched at Imperial College (4/12/2008)

A new £10 million research institute dedicated to studying the fundamental science behind shock waves, high velocity collisions and extremes of pressure and heat ...> Full Article

Attraction at the atomic level (4/11/2008)

Researchers find the ties that bind electrons in high-temperature superconductivity ...> Full Article

Most Powerful Laser in the World Fires Up (4/10/2008)

Laser reaches greater than one petawatt of laser power ...> Full Article

Researchers Take Step Toward Creating Quantum Computers (4/9/2008)

A research group recently demonstrated one of the basic building blocks for distributed quantum computing using entangled photons generated in optical fibers ...> Full Article

Physicists saved from drowning in complexities of wetting theory (4/8/2008)

The relationship between a thin liquid film or drop of liquid and the shape of the surface that it wets is explained with a new simplified mathematical formula ...> Full Article

Newly discovered 'superinsulators' promise to transform materials research, electronics design (4/6/2008)

Discovery opens new directions of inquiry in condensed matter physics and breaks ground for a new generation of microelectronics ...> Full Article

Graphene gazing gives glimpse of foundations of universe (4/5/2008)

Researchers have used graphene to measure an important and mysterious fundamental constant - and glimpse the foundations of the universe. ...> Full Article

2,500 researchers, 1 supermachine, 1 new snapshot of the universe (4/5/2008)

physicist a key figure among international team that designed world's biggest particle physics detector ...> Full Article

More Solid than Solid: A Potential Hydrogen-Storage Compound (4/4/2008)

Hydrogen storage material compacts molecules more densely than frozen block. ...> Full Article

Innovative Atom Trap Catches Highly Magnetic Atoms (4/3/2008)

A research team has succeeded in cooling atoms of a rare-earth element, erbium, to within two millionths of a degree of absolute zero using a novel trapping and laser cooling technique. Their recent report* is a major step towards a capability to capture, cool and manipulate individual atoms of erbium, an element with unique optical properties that promises highly sensitive nanoscale force or magnetic sensors, as well as single-photon sources and amplifiers at telecommunications wavelengths. It also may have applications in quantum computing devices. ...> Full Article

Research brings terahertz closer to everyday use (4/2/2008)

Researchers have recorded the highest operating temperature for a terahertz quantum cascade laser ...> Full Article

3-D imaging - first insights into magnetic fields (4/1/2008)

3-D images are not only useful in medicine; the observation of internal structures is also invaluable in many other fields of scientific investigation. Recently, researchers from the Hahn-Meitner-Institute (HMI) in Berlin in cooperation with University of Applied Sciences in Berlin have succeeded, for the first time, in a direct, three-dimensional visualisation of magnetic fields inside solid, non-transparent materials. ...> Full Article