Physics and Matter News - January 2009 Archives

The Finnish technology research facing the most challenging fusion energy project (1/31/2009)

The global ITER-test power plant project can be seen as one of the most challenging energy projects of mankind. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Tampere University of Technology are responsible for developing the maintenance of the critical parts of the fusion plant that is been built in Europe. A full-scale research platform to develop and test the maintenance robot and remote handling operations for ITER has been taken into use on Jan. 29 in Finland. ...> Full Article

Domain walls that conduct electricity (1/31/2009)

Exploring the ultimate nanoscale for future electronics ...> Full Article

Smallest ever quantum dots bring real world applications closer (1/30/2009)

Single atom quantum dots created by researchers at Canada's National Institute for Nanotechnology and the University of Alberta make possible a new level of control over individual electrons, a development that suddenly brings quantum dot-based devices within reach. Composed of a single atom of silicon and measuring less than one nanometer in diameter, these are the smallest quantum dots ever created. ...> Full Article

A supercharged metal-ion generator (1/30/2009)

Higher-quality coatings through 'runaway' self-sputtering ...> Full Article

Nuclear fusion-fission hybrid could contribute to carbon-free energy future (1/28/2009)

Physicists at the University of Texas at Austin have designed a new system that, when fully developed, would use fusion to eliminate most of the transuranic waste produced by nuclear power plants, making nuclear power a more viable alternative to carbon-based energy sources. ...> Full Article

Tiny lasers get a notch up (1/25/2009)

Tiny disk-shaped lasers as small as a speck of dust could one day beam information through optical computers. Unfortunately, a perfect disk will spray light out, not as a beam, but in all directions. New theoretical results, reported in the Optical Society journal Optics Letters, explain how adding a small notch to the disk edge provides a single outlet for laser light to stream out. ...> Full Article

Team heats up gold to surprising effect: It gets harder not softer (1/24/2009)

Common sense tells us that when you heat something up it gets softer, but a team of researchers, led by University of Toronto chemistry and physics professor R.J. Dwayne Miller, has demonstrated the exact opposite. Their findings will be published online in the prestigious international journal Science on Jan. 22. ...> Full Article

Quantum technologies move a step closer with the demonstration of an 'entanglement' filter (1/24/2009)

A team of physicists and engineers has demonstrated an optical device that filters two particles of light (or photons) based on the correlations between their polarization. ...> Full Article

Quantum teleportation between distant matter qubits (1/24/2009)

First between atoms 1 meter apart ...> Full Article

Spallation Neutron Source gets initial go-ahead on second target (1/18/2009)

The US Department of Energy has given its initial approval to begin plans for a second target station for the Spallation Neutron Source, expanding what is already the world's most powerful pulsed neutron scattering facility located at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. ...> Full Article

Next generation cloaking device demonstrated (1/17/2009)

A device that can bestow invisibility to an object by "cloaking" it from visual light is closer to reality. ...> Full Article

Spin-polarized electrons on demand (1/16/2009)

With a single electron pump, PTB researchers provide 'counted' electrons with the desired spin ...> Full Article

Simply weird stuff: Making supersolids with ultracold gas atoms (1/15/2009)

Physicists at the Joint Quantum Institute have proposed a recipe for manipulating ultracold mixtures of atoms into a "supersolid," an exotic state of matter that behaves simultaneously as a solid and a friction-free superfluid. ...> Full Article

Researchers measure elusive repulsive force from quantum fluctuations (1/13/2009)

Exotic force could lead to a wide range of nanomechanical devices based on quantum levitation ...> Full Article

Physicists squeeze light to quantum limit (1/8/2009)

A team of U of T physicists has demonstrated a way to squeeze light to the fundamental quantum limit, a finding that has potential applications for high-precision measurement, next generation atomic clocks, novel quantum computing and our most fundamental understanding of the universe. ...> Full Article