Uranium compound known since the 1960s reveals hidden spiral structure with unusual magnetic properties

A University of Texas at Dallas scientist and her colleagues have discovered an unusual atomic pattern in a uranium-based material that gives it a rare combination of magnetic properties, a finding that could open new pathways for designing advanced electronic and computer memory devices.

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Cricket’s day-night pink ball not always so pretty

The pink ball was introduced for day-night matches over a decade ago, and in June this year the International Cricket Council (ICC) approved a trial of pink balls in Tests expected to be affected by bad light—subject to prior agreement from both teams.

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Quantum computing shortcut makes particle collisions easier to simulate

Collisions between particles at high energies can sometimes produce new particles and shed light on interactions between the fundamental constituents of matter. Simulating these collisions and their underlying processes could yield valuable insights into how matter behaves at extremely small scales.

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Nobel winner Halzen says years of October ‘misery’ finally over

Physicist Francis Halzen has an impressively long list of academic accolades—but every October, as the Nobel Prize rolled around, his failure to bag the biggest award of them all left him “miserable,” he admits.

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Chernobyl particles reveal unexpectedly stable nuclear fuel after 40 years

Four decades after the 1986 nuclear disaster, researchers at Leibniz University Hannover and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) examined six tiny, highly radioactive fragments that were released from the destroyed reactor in Ukraine in the wake of the incident. Analyses show that these “hot particles” are far more stable than had previously been assumed. The findings […]

X-ray technique reveals how quantum materials respond to laser pulses in real time

Creating a quantum device often begins by intentionally damaging a crystal. Scientists fire an ultrafast laser pulse into a material, knocking atoms out of place and leaving behind tiny imperfections called vacancies. Far from being flaws, these vacancies can behave as qubits—the fundamental building blocks of quantum information.

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New chip-based frequency combs demonstrate potential for portable atomic clocks

The world would look radically different without rulers and measuring tapes that fit into a pocket. Carpenters, fashion designers and engineers rely on these trusty tools to check the size of everything from a wooden board to a fabric swatch. But physicists who work with light lack that same convenience for one of the basic […]

Heavy fermions emerge at an atomic-layer interface, unlocking new ways to design quantum materials

A research team led by the University of Osaka has directly observed, for the first time, an unusual heavy-fermion state forming at the boundary between a one-atom-thick material and a metal. Such states are closely linked to exotic quantum phenomena, including unconventional superconductivity, and the finding opens new possibilities for designing quantum materials through their […]

Can a passing black hole disturbance leave a trace in Hawking radiation?

Black holes, despite their extreme nature, are described by surprisingly few basic parameters: their mass, charge and spin. Two black holes may have formed for completely different reasons and passed through very different histories, yet still end up in the same final state. John Wheeler summarized this idea with the famous phrase “black holes have […]

Francis Halzen wins Nobel Prize in physics for work on high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin

Francis Halzen won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for his contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and his discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.

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Atomic motion could help push solar cells beyond conventional limits

The bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE), a photoelectric effect that generates photocurrent without a p–n junction, can persist even when a material’s average crystal structure remains centrosymmetric, a study from Institute of Science Tokyo has found. Researchers demonstrated this in CuCrP2S6, a van der Waals material that transitions from a noncentrosymmetric to a centrosymmetric average structure. […]

A novel path to fusion ignition: Heat first, then add fuel

For more than 70 years, fusion energy researchers have used a particular equation to judge whether a plasma would stay hot and dense enough—for long enough—to reach a point where it could sustain itself without any more external power added. While that equation marks the finish line, also known as ignition, it says nothing about […]

Quantum systems never quite forget where they came from

Even the most chaotic quantum systems keep a permanent mark of their own past—a “quantum birthmark”—that never fades. Researchers from Tampere University, Harvard University and TU Dresden discovered the feature in their recent study. Their findings shed new light on the elusive relationship between classical and quantum mechanics. Looking ahead, these quantum birthmarks, along with […]

Lightsaber-like plasma antenna uses laser-ionized air to transmit radio waves

Researchers have demonstrated a technique that uses a laser to produce a plasma beam antenna capable of transmitting radio waves. The article, “Laser-Induced-Plasma-Filament Antenna Transmitting 30 MHz VHF,” is published in the IEEE Journal of Microwaves.

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Scientists uncover recurrent patterns within chaotic quantum behavior

Many complex quantum systems rapidly lose the recognizable patterns of their initial states as their components interact. To describe patterns of regular and chaotic motion in specific systems, physicists can construct a mathematical map called an effective phase space.

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