http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (Phys.org) -- In the seemingly never ending search for a superconductor that can operate at or near room temperature, researchers have discovered a lot of things about superconductors in general. One of these is that there appears to be two classes of them - those materials that only take on their superconductive properties when exposed to an environment just a few degrees above absolute zero, and those that do the same at somewhat higher temperatures. Those in the latter group are said to have high critical-temperature superconductivity (Tc). Unfortunately, researchers have made little progress in understanding how such materials are able to do what they do. Now, new research by a team of Japanese, British and American researchers has found that at least one of these Tc materials likely has a quantum critical point (QCP), which if true, would go a long way towards explaining why some materials are able to become superconductors at higher temperatures than others. They have published a paper detailing their findings in the journal Science. http://phys.org/news259574448.html Physics Fri, 22 Jun 2012 09:01:41 EST news259574448 (Phys.org) -- Credit cards which are completely fraud-proof and passports which cannot be forged: quantum physics could make both of these possible. This is explained by the fact that the quantum mechanical state of a particle, an atomic nucleus, for example, can be neither copied nor read out correctly without additional information which only authorised users of possible cards have. Accordingly, if a credit card were to contain a quantum memory, it would be protected against misuse. Although physicists have already developed methods to write quantum states into different types of memory and read them out again, the problem is either that these methods work only just above absolute zero temperature which excludes routine use - or that the quantum information stored is lost after only a few milliseconds. Researchers at Harvard University in Cambridge near Boston, the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, and Caltech in Pasadena have now successfully stored a quantum state in a diamond crystal for more than a second at room temperature. The researchers even believe that a storage time of one-and-a-half days is possible if they improve their method. http://phys.org/news259305181.html Physics Tue, 19 Jun 2012 06:13:17 EST news259305181 Researchers from the University of Miami (UM) are unveiling a novel theory for high-temperature superconductivity. The team hopes the new finding gives insight into the process, and brings the scientific community closer to achieving superconductivity at higher temperatures than currently possible. This is a breakthrough that could transform our world. http://phys.org/news259234980.html Physics Mon, 18 Jun 2012 10:43:21 EST news259234980 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of astronomers from the UK, Canada and the Netherlands have commenced a revolutionary new study of cosmic star-formation history, looking back in time to when the universe was still in its lively and somewhat unruly youth. The consortium, co-led by University of Edinburgh astrophysicist Professor James Dunlop, is using a brand new camera called SCUBA-2, the most powerful camera ever developed for observing light at "sub-mm" wavelengths (light that has a wavelength 1000 times longer than we can see with our eyes). Prof. Dunlop will present the first results from the survey on Tuesday 27 March at the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester. http://phys.org/news252062648.html Space & Earth Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:50:01 EST news252062648 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Chicago physicists have experimentally demonstrated for the first time that atoms chilled to temperatures near absolute zero may behave like seemingly unrelated natural systems of vastly different scales, offering potential insights into links between the atomic realm and deep questions of cosmology. http://phys.org/news251310652.html Physics Sun, 18 Mar 2012 17:31:07 EST news251310652 A Griffith University PhD candidate has been highly awarded for his innovative image of the shadow of a single atom. http://phys.org/news248696803.html Physics Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:26:54 EST news248696803 (PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists have demonstrated a system in which light is used to control the motion of an object that is large enough to be seen with the naked eye at the level where quantum mechanics governs its behavior. http://phys.org/news247730040.html Physics Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:54:17 EST news247730040 (PhysOrg.com) -- While physicists at the Large Hadron Collider smash together thousands of protons and other particles to see what matter is made of, they're never going to hurl electrons at each other. No matter how high the energy, the little negative particles won't break apart. But that doesn't mean they are indestructible. http://phys.org/news245595096.html Physics Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:00:06 EST news245595096 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics achieve direct imaging of quantum fluctuations at absolute zero temperature. http://phys.org/news237799167.html Physics Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:26:59 EST news237799167 For the first time, a team of French physicists, supported by CNES and ESA, has succeeded in developing a vibration-resistant cold atom accelerometer. Tested in parabolic flight, this prototype was able to measure infinitesimal accelerations, which until now was only possible in the laboratory. This could pave the way for the development of portable cold atom accelerometers and thus improved positioning and geological prospecting systems. It could also make it possible to directly test aspects of Einstein's general theory of relativity. The results are published in the journal Nature Communications. http://phys.org/news236248148.html Physics Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:29:20 EST news236248148 Even with today's invisibility cloaks, people can't walk through walls. But, when paired together, millions of electrons can. http://phys.org/news235910051.html Physics Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:35:01 EST news235910051 (PhysOrg.com) -- Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are dark patches in the sky seen against the continuous, bright infrared background produced by our galaxy. IRDCs are rich in molecules and relatively dense, cool gas, and they are natural sites for future star birth. Studies of IRDCs to date have emphasized those candidates that already have star formation underway within them, but astronomers are increasingly interested in probing younger, colder clouds to probe earlier stages in the star formation process. http://phys.org/news235122548.html Space & Earth Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:50:03 EST news235122548 (PhysOrg.com) -- It has been 100 years since the discovery of superconductivity, a state achieved when mercury was cooled, with the help of liquid helium, to nearly the coldest temperature achievable to form a superfluid that provides no resistance to electrons as they flow through it. http://phys.org/news226846446.html Physics Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:00:24 EST news226846446 (PhysOrg.com) -- Japanese researchers, led by Masashi Kawasaki, have discovered that a previously known kind of double layered material created using electrostatic doping can be used as a superconductor. http://phys.org/news225365804.html Physics Mon, 23 May 2011 11:10:01 EST news225365804 (PhysOrg.com) -- Does helium-4 become a "supersolid" near absolute zero? What previous researchers thought might be a supersolid transition is better explained by changes in the solid's resistance to shearing, according to new research by J. C. Séamus Davis, the J.G. White Distinguished Professor in the Physical Sciences. The research is reported in the May 13 issue of Science. http://phys.org/news224835064.html Physics Tue, 17 May 2011 07:50:01 EST news224835064 In a four-decade, Holy Grail-like quest to fully understand what it means to be in a "supersolid" state, physicists have found that supersolid isn't always super solid. In other words, this exotic state of frozen helium appears to have liquid-like properties, says a new paper published in the journal Science on May 13, 2011. http://phys.org/news224427393.html Physics Thu, 12 May 2011 14:00:07 EST news224427393 (PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's fleet of space telescopes has captured the nearby Andromeda Galaxy, also known as M31, in different wavelengths. Most of these wavelengths are invisible to the eye and each shows a different aspect of the galaxy's nature. http://phys.org/news223120460.html Space & Earth Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:54:35 EST news223120460 How would you like to store all the films ever made on a device the size of an I-phone? http://phys.org/news220527610.html Nanotechnology Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:40:43 EST news220527610 (PhysOrg.com) -- As part of an ongoing effort to uncover details of how high-temperature superconductors carry electrical current with no resistance, scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have measured fluctuations in superconductivity across a wide range of temperatures using terahertz spectroscopy. Their technique allows them to see fluctuations lasting mere billionths of a billionth of a second, and reveals that these fleeting fluctuations disappear 10-15 Kelvin (K) above the transition temperature (Tc) at which superconductivity sets in. http://phys.org/news216824794.html Physics Sun, 13 Feb 2011 13:07:02 EST news216824794 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Japanese scientist who "likes alcohol very much" has discovered that soaking samples of material in hot party drinks for 24 hours turns them into superconductors at ambient temperature. http://phys.org/news213947107.html Physics Tue, 11 Jan 2011 06:50:01 EST news213947107 When resolving why electrons can never beat the speed limit set by light, it might be best to forget about time. Thanks to insight from studying movement inside a biological cell, it seems that light itself -- not the relativity of time -- may be the traffic cop, according to a Cornell University biologist. http://phys.org/news209373643.html Physics Fri, 19 Nov 2010 07:20:59 EST news209373643 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Princeton scientist with an interdisciplinary bent has taken two well-known problems in mathematics and reformulated them as a physics question, offering new tools to solve challenges relevant to a host of subjects ranging from improving data compression to detecting gravitational waves. http://phys.org/news209145926.html Other Sciences Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:06:00 EST news209145926 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ever since audiences heard Goldfinger utter the famous line, “No, Mr. Bond; I expect you to die,” as a laser beam inched its way toward James Bond and threatened to cut him in half, lasers have been thought of as white-hot beams of intensely focused energy capable of burning through anything in their path. http://phys.org/news204223227.html Physics Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:40:46 EST news204223227 Symmetry is a fundamental concept in physics. Our ‘standard model’ of particle physics, for example, predicts that matter and anti-matter should have been created in equal amounts at the big bang, yet our existing universe is mostly matter. Such a discrepancy between the symmetry of known physical laws, and what we actually observe, are often the inspiration for realizing that new interactions are important or that new phases of matter can exist. http://phys.org/news204201232.html Physics Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:34:26 EST news204201232 (PhysOrg.com) -- In Swinburne University's 'cold molecules lab', where temperatures one millionth of a degree above absolute zero are routinely achieved, researchers are making significant advances in understanding the weird and wonderful world of quantum mechanics. http://phys.org/news202624318.html Physics Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:34:07 EST news202624318 (PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have used a small crystal of ions (electrically charged atoms) to detect forces at the scale of yoctonewtons. Measurements of slight forces—one yoctonewton is equivalent to the weight of a single copper atom on Earth -- can be useful in force microscopy, nanoscale science, and tests of fundamental physics theories. http://phys.org/news202563647.html Nanotechnology Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:10:06 EST news202563647 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Bristol in the UK have proposed a refrigerator that consists of just a few quantum particles -- qubits. http://phys.org/news202539967.html Physics Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:10:01 EST news202539967 A team of scientists at Rutgers University has found a material in which an electric field can control the overall magnetic properties of the material. If the magnetoelectric effect discovered by the Rutgers group can be extended to higher temperatures, it could be useful for manipulating small-scale magnetic bits in ultra high-density data storage. The research appears in the current issue of Physical Review Letters. http://phys.org/news201788726.html Physics Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:00:02 EST news201788726 An international group of physicists from the University of Augsburg in Germany, the University of Florida in Gainesville, and the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen have succeeded in creating a theoretical modelling of the microscopic defects in superconductors and in discovering the main cause for the drastic drop in the electric current. The results have been published in the internationally recognized scientific journal, Nature Physics. http://phys.org/news197901636.html Physics Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:41:32 EST news197901636 In the May 7 edition of Physical Review Letters an international team led by University of Delaware researchers reports new findings about helium that may lead to more accurate standards for how temperature and pressure are measured. http://phys.org/news193332065.html Physics Mon, 17 May 2010 16:24:53 EST news193332065