https://phys.org/physics-news/ en-us The latest news in physics, materials science, quantum physics, optics and photonics, superconductivity science and technology. Updated Daily. Every second, tens of billions of neutrinos produced by nuclear fusion in the sun pass through every square centimeter of Earth—and through our bodies—almost without interacting. Although they are among the most abundant particles emitted by the sun, their extremely weak interactions make detecting these elusive particles one of the greatest experimental challenges in particle physics. A number of specialized neutrino detectors are in operation around the world, exploiting the unique properties of neutrinos to investigate astrophysical phenomena. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-energy-solar-neutrinos-electrons.html General Physics Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:40:03 EDT news707482381 A research group in Japan has demonstrated a world-record 10-channel multiplexed quantum photonic interface based on an integrated waveguide array, a key technology for optically interconnecting multiple quantum computers. The study is published in the journal Optica. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ten-channel-photonic-interface-links.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:00:02 EDT news707477822 For the better part of a century, people have been trying to understand dark matter. This invisible substance makes up roughly 85% of the mass in the universe but has never been directly detected. Determining exactly what it is remains one of the biggest questions about our world. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-result-dark.html General Physics Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:11:00 EDT news707483436 Physicists at the University of Graz (Austria), in collaboration with colleagues from Marburg University and Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany), have achieved a scientific breakthrough. For the first time, the generation of electrical energy from light has been filmed and described theoretically. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ultrafast-snapshots-reveal-moments-electricity.html Condensed Matter Tue, 01 Sep 2026 11:20:03 EDT news707473621 One of the central ideas in modern physics is the phase transition—a sudden transformation of the state of a material. We encounter phase transitions throughout everyday life: water freezes into ice, wax melts in the warmth of a flame, and water vapor condenses into droplets on a cold window. In these familiar examples, the atoms themselves rearrange into a new structure, giving the material entirely different properties. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-faint-infrared-insulator-metal-transition.html Condensed Matter Mon, 31 Aug 2026 18:20:03 EDT news707384285 Metal-insulator transitions (MITs), in which a material changes from a metallic state with low resistivity to an insulating state because of a change in an external parameter, such as temperature, pressure or an electric field, are a central topic in fundamental physics research. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-crystal-reveals-joule-stabilizes-resistive.html Condensed Matter Mon, 31 Aug 2026 17:40:03 EDT news707405701 Carnegie Mellon University scientists have uncovered a new phenomenon that challenges a longstanding assumption about how electronic materials respond to magnetic fields. The discovery broadens the fundamental understanding of the Hall effect, a principle widely used to measure the magnetic and electronic properties of materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-physicists-hall-effect.html Condensed Matter Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:20:07 EDT news707385286 For nearly 80 years, physicists have relied on a thought experiment created by Richard Feynman to predict how quantum particles behave. For the first time, researchers in China have tested this trick directly in the lab. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-physicists-feynman-path.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:00:02 EDT news707138733 Quantum technologies promise secure communication networks, powerful forms of computing and new sensing tools. One of the major challenges, however, is that different quantum systems often operate at different wavelengths of light. Quantum memories, trapped ions and other quantum devices may work best in the ultraviolet or visible range, while long-distance communication over optical fibers works most efficiently at telecommunications wavelengths. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hollow-core-fiber-platform-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:00:02 EDT news706879144 Welding plastic is a critically important part of everyday engineering—especially for preventing leaks in underground water and gas pipes. For decades, engineers have understood that a properly welded joint in polyethylene pipe can be just as strong as the pipe itself, if not stronger. However, the reason for this strength has remained a mystery. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-plastic-welds-retain-molecular-memory.html General Physics Sat, 29 Aug 2026 13:10:01 EDT news707138144 Despite all the advertisements for engagement rings and necklace gifts, natural diamonds are imperfect. Their carbon atoms are arranged in a cubic lattice, but they nonetheless contain several types of crystallographic defects due to impurities that occasionally replace a carbon atom. The most common types of impurities are nitrogen and boron; "Type I" diamonds contain nitrogen impurities, which can be isolated or clustered, at concentrations of up to 1%, and make up about 95% of all natural diamonds. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-diamond-clock-combines-temperature-driven.html General Physics Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:40:01 EDT news707129885 Electrons, particles that carry a negative electric charge, typically move through materials. At low densities and temperatures, however, the electrical repulsion between them can overpower their tendency to move, prompting them to arrange themselves into ordered patterns known as Wigner crystals. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-reveals-internal-motion-electron-crystals.html Condensed Matter Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:03 EDT news706964413 An AI assistant helped University of Colorado Boulder researchers solve a mathematical problem that had challenged their lab for a year and a half, though it made subtle errors along the way. The breakthrough could improve how scientists study nanoparticles—tiny particles about 1,000 times thinner than a human hair—but it reveals both the promise and limitations of AI as a scientific research partner. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fast-error-prone-ai-decades.html Soft Matter Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:40:05 EDT news707063041 Finding one Higgs boson was hard enough, but physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are hunting for something even more elusive: pairs of Higgs bosons. At the recent International Conference on High Energy Physics 2026, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations presented new constraints on the double-Higgs production rate, providing insight into how the Higgs boson interacts with itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-atlas-cms-narrow-twin-higgs.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 13:00:04 EDT news707051300 When an athlete swings upside down atop a 7-meter (23-foot) pendulum, it may seem like a feat of strength, courage or technique. A new study suggests it is something more fundamental: a striking demonstration of how intelligence emerges from the interaction of brain, body and environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-physics-kiiking-estonia-extreme-sport.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:09:22 EDT news707051333 High-energy nuclear collisions recreate extreme conditions similar to those in the early universe, producing quark–gluon plasma (QGP), a hot state of matter in which quarks and gluons are no longer confined inside protons and neutrons. While large systems such as lead–lead collisions can produce matter that behaves like a fluid, collective behavior has also been observed in smaller systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-oxygen-collisions-reveal-quarkgluon-approaches.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:00:03 EDT news707048702 In the hunt for one of nature's most elusive substances—dark matter, which makes up 85% of all matter in the universe—scientists are going to extremes. Deep underground and chilled to near absolute zero, the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) SNOLAB—one of the world's most sensitive dark matter searches—has begun collecting its first scientific data. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-deep-underground-supercdms-dark-cryogenic.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:40:06 EDT news707048521 Table tennis professionals are true masters at redirecting fast-moving projectiles. Putting a targeted spin on a serve can make the little white ball fly straight toward the edge of the table but then, at the last moment, take a sharp curve into the left corner. The physical phenomenon behind this sporting trick is known as the Magnus effect. It acts on balls of all sizes and has helped decide more than a few soccer matches. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-optical-magnus-effect-sharpen-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:20:04 EDT news707047501 When engineers look to nature for inspiration, they often turn to living systems. The flight of birds has influenced aircraft design, gecko feet inspired new adhesives and lotus leaves led to the development of self-cleaning surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-geomimicry-framework-sustainable-materials.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:27:53 EDT news707038047 Physics is most readily applied to relatively simple systems: a pendulum, two electrons colliding or the structure of the solar system. But when systems become complicated—when many particles interact with one another, in condensed matter systems such as gases and fluids or in the cosmology of the early universe—simplifications can be made using a technique called classical or extended mean-field theory. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-simple-neural-networks-field-theory.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 07:20:06 EDT news706956708 A team of researchers from the University of Bonn, Heidelberg University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico has studied the critical behavior of light particles (photons) close to a phase transition. This critical scaling behavior, which sees thermodynamic quantities grow extremely large or diverge shortly prior to Bose-Einstein condensation, had never before been seen in photon gases until the researchers successfully secured precisely this proof. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-particles-reveal-critical-scaling-dimensional.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 04:30:01 EDT news707022164 While quantum computing could be the future, it is currently plagued by finicky hardware. To make the technology practical, researchers must demonstrate that it consistently and continuously works and performs at scale. In a new study, published in Physical Review Letters, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Ion Storage Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, created a robust process for entangling trapped-ion qubits. The result means better building blocks for ion-based quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ramped-fields-robust-entanglement-ion.html Quantum Physics Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:20:06 EDT news706969261 Efficiently controlling heat generation has become a major challenge as the semiconductors used in smartphones, computers and similar devices have become higher-performing and more miniaturized. The way heat is transmitted is determined by the vibration of the atoms that constitute a material, but it is not easy to directly examine, at the atomic scale, how neighboring atoms vibrate in coordination with one another. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-vibrations-neighboring-atoms-atomic-scale.html Condensed Matter Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:20:03 EDT news706961521 Scientists have developed a new acoustic levitation technique using an ultrasonic beam capable of levitating and moving small objects in midair over distances of up to 40 cm (16 inches), six times farther than previously achieved using conventional methods. The study, carried out by a research team from the University of Tsukuba in Japan and the University of Bristol, was published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-narrow-ultrasonic-enables-stable-3d.html General Physics Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:00:09 EDT news706957020 For decades, light has been used to understand the molecular structures of matter. A sample is irradiated with light, and measurements determine the wavelengths at which it is absorbed. Since each molecule absorbs light at very specific wavelengths that depend on its structure, the resulting absorption spectrum acts like a molecular fingerprint. For individual molecules, however, this signal is vanishingly small and mostly indistinguishable from noise. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-molecule-photon-entanglement-imperceptible-recoil.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:00:14 EDT news706866181 Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS), in collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States, have uncovered that a class of nickel-based materials known as samarium (Sm)-based infinite-layer nickelates can regain their superconducting ability under strong magnetic fields. This behavior could open a promising pathway toward superconducting technologies that can operate under extreme magnetic conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-high-magnetic-fields-revive-superconductivity.html Condensed Matter Wed, 26 Aug 2026 10:40:04 EDT news706956602 Detecting short-wave infrared (SWIR) light, a region of the electromagnetic spectrum just beyond the light visible to the human eye, could be advantageous for many real-world applications. For instance, it could enable more advanced systems for capturing images at night, as well as sophisticated medical imaging, environmental monitoring and industrial inspection technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hyperdoped-silicon-photodiode-advances-short.html Condensed Matter Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:00:06 EDT news706796840 Scientists could have a new way to explore the hidden behavior of matter, thanks to research involving Queen Mary University of London that uses a quantum computer to carry out a new form of computational spectroscopy. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-method-broadens-spectroscopy-hard.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 26 Aug 2026 07:00:07 EDT news706934991 Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a promising new way to protect fragile quantum information using nothing but mechanical vibrations—essentially extremely small sound waves. The breakthrough, which comes from the lab of Marko Lončar, Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering, paves a path toward compact, sound-based quantum networks on chips, as well as hybrid quantum systems that combine many different types of quantum bits, or qubits. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-duty-quantum.html Quantum Physics Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:00:03 EDT news706882021 Diffusion is a fundamental natural phenomenon that can be observed across a wide range of length and time scales. It plays a key role in many fields, including physics, biology and economics. In particular, asymmetric or directional diffusion of particle systems has attracted growing interest for practical applications, including the development of unconventional artificial intelligence (AI) hardware, where it could enable nonlinear, geometry-controlled information processing. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-simulations-reveal-asymmetric-diffusion-magnetic.html Condensed Matter Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:20:01 EDT news706877941