Physics and Matter News - February 2009 Archives

Cross-dressing rubidium may reveal clues for exotic computing (2/28/2009)

Researchers at the NIST/UMd Joint Quantum Institute have learned how to "dress up" neutral atoms with laser light to make them act in ways similar to a charged particle like an electron. The costume scheme could be a way for physicists to study the role of fractionally charged particles in an exotic form of quantum computing. ...> Full Article

Scientists pinpoint mechanism to increase magnetic response of ferromagnetic semiconductor (2/27/2009)

When squeezed, electrons increase their ability to move around. In compounds such as semiconductors and electrical insulators, such squeezing can dramatically change the electrical- and magnetic- properties. Now scientists at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have manipulated electron mobility and pinpointed the mechanism controlling the strength of magnetic interactions -- and hence the material's magnetic ordering temperature. ...> Full Article

New twist on 40-year-old discovery (2/26/2009)

A Newtonian system that mimics the baldness of rotating black holes ...> Full Article

Team develops new metamaterial device (2/25/2009)

Solid-state metamaterial device tames terahertz frequency ...> Full Article

Secrets behind high temperature superconductors revealed (2/24/2009)

Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Fribourg have found evidence that magnetism is involved in the mechanism behind high temperature superconductivity. ...> Full Article

Physicists find unusual electronic properties in bismuth-based crystalline material (2/23/2009)

Material has potential to improve solar cell efficiency, computer chip design ...> Full Article

Forget the freezer: Research suggests novel way to control water behavior (2/22/2009)

Researchers may be able to "freeze" water into a solid, not by cooling but by confining it to narrow spaces less than one-millionth of a millimeter wide, according to new results from an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers. ...> Full Article

Huge pressures that melt diamond on planet Neptune determined researchers (2/21/2009)

Technique may provide data for NIF nuclear fusion effort ...> Full Article

Quantum dance: Discovery led by Princeton researchers could revolutionize computing (2/20/2009)

An international team of scientists, led by a Princeton University group, has observed an exciting and strange behavior in electrons' spin within a new material that could be harnessed to transform computing and electronics. ...> Full Article

Engineers tune a nanoscale grating structure to trap and release a variety of light waves (2/19/2009)

The structure's graded depths arrest light at multiple locations and different frequencies ...> Full Article

Ultracold gas mimics ultrahot plasma (2/16/2009)

Duke and Brookhaven examine free-flowing 'exploding cigars' ...> Full Article

'Science:' Novel quantum effect directly observed and explained (2/15/2009)

Research team succeeds in observing electrons in the quantum spin Hall state; Material suitable for spin sources and quantum computing in information processing ...> Full Article

'Quantum data buffering' scheme demonstrated by researchers (2/14/2009)

Delayed quantum image potentially useful for quantum computers ...> Full Article

For refrigeration problems, a magnetically attractive solution (2/13/2009)

An exotic metal alloy discovered by an international collaboration working at NIST's Center for Neutron Research may be the key to a new quieter, more economical class of home and commercial refrigeration systems based on magnetics rather than conventional gas compression and expansion. ...> Full Article

Taking the stress out of magnetic field detection (2/12/2009)

NIST researchers have discovered that a carefully built magnetic sandwich has dramatically enhanced sensitivity to magnetic fields and could lead to greatly improved magnetic sensors for a wide range of applications from weapons detection and non-destructive testing to medical devices and high-performance data storage. ...> Full Article

Cracking a controversial solid state mystery (2/8/2009)

Scientists can easily explain the structural order that makes steel and aluminium out of molten metal. And they have discovered the molecular changes that take place as water turns to ice. But, despite the fact that glass blowers have been plying their trade since the first century BC, we have only just begun to understand what makes molten glass solid. ...> Full Article

Laser-sculpted optical devices for future giant telescopes (2/7/2009)

Future telescopes, with mirrors half the size of a football field, will need special components to deal with the light they collect. Astronomers are turning to photonic devices that guide and manipulate light inside specially-designed materials. The greatest potential, which is described in the latest issue of Optics Express, the Optical Society's open-access journal, may lie in a laser-based technique that carves out micron-sized light pathways in three dimensions. ...> Full Article

New plasma transistor could create sharper displays (2/6/2009)

By integrating a solid-state electron emitter and a microcavity plasma device, researchers at the University of Illinois have created a plasma transistor that could be used to make lighter, less expensive and higher resolution flat-panel displays. ...> Full Article

Researchers could herald a new era in fundamental physics (2/5/2009)

Cardiff University researchers who are part of a British-German team searching the depths of space to study gravitational waves, may have stumbled on one of the most important discoveries in physics according to an American physicist. Craig Hogan, a physicist at Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics in Illinois is convinced that he has found proof in the data of the gravitational wave detector GEO600 of a holographic universe. ...> Full Article

New book from AIAA explores space drives, warp drives (2/4/2009)

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has published a new book, "Frontiers of Propulsion Science," that compiles for the first time the emerging science of such novel propulsion concepts as space drives, warp drives, gravity control, and faster-than-light travel -- breakthroughs that would revolutionize spaceflight and enable human voyages to other star systems. ...> Full Article