Blog
- A new milestone for light-driven electronics 02/02/2023 An international team of scientists collaborating within the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat has achieved a breakthrough in quantum research—the first detection of excitons (electrically neutral quasiparticles) in a topological insulator.
- Scientists achieve phonon and photon lasing in optomechanical cavities 31/01/2023 Since the introduction of the first ruby laser—a solid-state laser that uses the synthetic ruby crystal as its laser medium—in 1960, the use of lasers has expanded significantly in scientific, medical and industrial fields.
- New spectroscopy technique improves trace element detection in liquid 26/01/2023 Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a rapid chemical analysis technology that has been well developed for trace element analyses in gases, liquids, and solids. It uses a high-power laser pulse to elicit short-lived, high-temperature plasma in a sample. As the plasma cools, it emits spectral peaks that correspond to elements in the periodic table. Recent exploration has extended LIBS via filament-induced breakdown spectroscopy (FIBS), which has better sensitivity and greater stability. Yet FIBS is intrinsically limited by the guided laser intensities in the filamentation itself.
- Visualizing a complex electron wavefunction using high-resolution attosecond technology 25/01/2023 The early 20th century saw the advent of quantum mechanics to describe the properties of small particles, such as electrons or atoms. Schrödinger's equation in quantum mechanics can successfully predict the electronic structure of atoms or molecules. However, the "duality" of matter, referring to the dual "particle" and "wave" nature of electrons, remained a controversial issue. Physicists use a complex wavefunction to represent the wave nature of an electron.
- Dynamical fractal discovered in clean magnetic crystal 19/01/2023 The nature and properties of materials depend strongly on dimension. Imagine how different life in a one-dimensional or two-dimensional world would be from the three dimensions we're commonly accustomed to. With this in mind, it is perhaps not surprising that fractals—objects with fractional dimension—have garnered significant attention since their discovery. Despite their apparent strangeness, fractals arise in surprising places—from snowflakes and lightning strikes to natural coastlines.
- Printing atom by atom: Lab explores nanoscale 3D printing 17/01/2023 It takes chemist Liaisan Khasanova less than a minute to turn an ordinary silica glass tube into a printing nozzle for a very special 3D printer. The chemist inserts the capillary tube—which is just one millimeter thick—into a blue device, closes the flap and presses a button. After a few seconds there is a loud bang and the nozzle is ready for use.
- Entangling Quantum Sensors Can Triple Accuracy 12/01/2023 “Spooky sensing at a distance” via one combined device
- Physicists create the first two-dimensional ferrimagnetism in graphene 10/01/2023 Scientists from St. Petersburg University together with their foreign colleagues have created the world's first two-dimensional ferromagnetism in graphene. Use of the obtained magnetic state of graphene can become the basis of a new approach to electronics, increasing its energy efficiency and speed when developing devices using alternative technologies without the use of silicon.
- New electrochemical measurement output uses data science to reveal microbial electricity generation mechanisms 05/01/2023 Researchers at Japan's National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) have developed a device capable of taking hundreds of times more electrochemical measurements than conventional devices. By analyzing the device's large amounts of data, the team has identified molecular mechanisms that enable electrogenic bacteria to efficiently generate electricity even when subjected to a wide range of electrode potentials.
- A new measurement technique for 3D orientation imaging of polymer chains 03/01/2023 In some materials, the molecules line up in a regular, repeating pattern. In others, they all point in random directions. But in many advanced materials used in medicine, computer chip manufacturing and other industries, the molecules arrange themselves in complex patterns that dictate the material's properties.
- Cupric oxide exhibiting both magnetic and dielectric properties at room temperature 22/12/2022 The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the U.K. and the University of Oxford in the U.K. have experimentally confirmed that a cupric oxide exhibits multiferroic state (i.e., both magnetic and ferroelectric properties) at room temperature under high pressure.