News tagged with atomic nuclei

Gamma ray optics: A viable tool for a new branch of scientific discovery

Scientists at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) have demonstrated for the first time that gamma rays, a highly energetic form of light produced by radioactive decay of atomic nuclei and amongst other used to ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 09, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (8) | comments 2

Neutrons uncover new density waves in fermion liquids

Scientists working at the Institut Laue-Langevin, one of the world's leading centres for neutron science, have carried out the first investigation of two-dimensional fermion liquids using neutron scattering, and discovered ...

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 28, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Transparent iron? For the first time, an experiment shows that atomic nuclei can become transparent

At the high-brilliance synchrotron light source PETRA III, a team of DESY scientists headed by Dr. Ralf Röhlsberger has succeeded in making atomic nuclei transparent with the help of X-ray light. At the ...

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (12) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Researchers demonstrate rare combination of electric and magnetic properties in strontium barium manganite

An electric field can displace the cloud of electrons surrounding each atom of a solid. In an effect known as polarization, the cloud centers move away slightly from the positively charged nuclei, which radically ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Jan 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1

New material for thermonuclear fusion reactors

Scientists at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Oxford University and the University of Michigan have joined efforts to develop new materials for thermonuclear fusion reactors. Their research focuses on characterization ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Jan 09, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (12) | comments 38

Electrically controlling magnetic polarization of nuclei offers new way to store quantum information

Storing information in long-lasting quantum states is a prerequisite for building quantum computers. Intrinsic properties of nuclei known as magnetic spins are good storage candidates because they interact ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Nov 11, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Beacons in space

Pulsars are among the most exotic objects in the universe. They resemble gigantic atomic nuclei and rotate around their own axis at an incredible speed. These cosmic beacons mark the end of massive suns. Theoretically ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 03, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 6

Mars rover carries device for underground scouting

(PhysOrg.com) -- An instrument on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity can check for any water that might be bound into shallow underground minerals along the rover's path.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Physics group corrals record number of neutrons into one place

(PhysOrg.com) -- Neutrons, the particles that along with protons, exist in the nuclei of atoms (except for hydrogen) have been intensely studied ever since their discovery in the 1930’s. And while many interesting developments ...

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 17 | with audio podcast report

Cosmic crashes forging gold: Nuclear reactions in space do produce the heaviest elements

(PhysOrg.com) -- Collisions of neutron stars produce the heaviest elements such as gold or lead. The cosmic site where the heaviest chemical elements such as lead or gold are formed has most likely been identified: ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 09, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (25) | comments 46 | with audio podcast

Seeing the world of nanotechnology from a single-molecule perspective

Observing the structure of collapsing unstable atomic nuclei using electrons is an experimental goal that has not been achieved anywhere in the world. Masanori Wakasugi, director of the Instrumentation Development ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Aug 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Adding neutrons to synthetic atoms drastically alters shape of their nuclei, affects their stability

To probe the evolution of atomic nuclei with different shape -- a factor which affects atomic stability -- a large team of international researchers has added neutrons to zirconium atoms and revealed the possibility ...

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 2

Vessel to contain cosmic force takes shape

At the heart of most celestial objects is a dynamo. The Earth's dynamo, spun to life in the molten metal core of our planet, generates a magnetic field that helps us find north and, perhaps more critically, ...

Physics / Plasma Physics

created Jul 21, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 4

Searching for fractals may help cancer cell testing

Scientists have long known that healthy cells looked and behaved differently from cancer cells. For instance, the nuclei of healthy cells -- the inner part of the cells where the chromosomes are stored -- ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jul 06, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Modeling the bizarre: Quantum superfluids

(PhysOrg.com) -- More than 100 years since superconductivity was discovered, a comprehensive description for the behavior of a broad class of fundamental physical systems that exhibit the bizarre properties ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jun 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast