Heat drives classical phase transitions—think solid, liquid, and gas—but much stranger things can happen when the temperature drops. If phase transitions occur at the coldest temperatures imaginable, where quantum mechanics ...
Quantum Physics
Sep 15, 2014
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(Phys.org) —For the last century, the concept of crystals has been a mainstay of solid-state physics. Crystals are paragons of order; crystalline materials are defined by the repeating patterns their constituent atoms and ...
Condensed Matter
Jul 7, 2014
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(Phys.org) —Recent insight and discovery of a new class of quantum transition opens the way for a whole new subfield of materials physics and quantum technologies.
Quantum Physics
Apr 24, 2014
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(Phys.org) —Ever wonder how the hot soup of subatomic particles that filled the early universe transformed into the ordinary matter of today's world? Nuclear physicists exploring this question can't exactly travel back ...
General Physics
Apr 7, 2014
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Gelatin sets by forming a solid matrix full of random, liquid-filled pores—much like a saturated sponge. It turns out that a similar process also happens in some metallic glasses, substances whose molecular behavior has ...
Condensed Matter
Apr 3, 2013
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(Phys.org)—When it comes to high-temperature superconductors, a class of materials called cuprates is king, and it is science's ongoing quest to determine their exact physical subtleties. Cornell physicists and materials ...
Superconductivity
Jan 16, 2013
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(Phys.org)—Scientists have replaced the telescope with the microscope: Using the similarities between the structure of a crystal and the state of the cosmos in the early universe, they have explored a yet unconfirmed phenomenon, ...
General Physics
Jan 3, 2013
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Researchers with the DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, Berkeley, have developed an elegant and powerful new microscale actuator that can flex like a tiny beckoning ...
Nanophysics
Dec 17, 2012
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(Phys.org)—The search for clean and green energy in the 21st century requires a better and more efficient battery technology. The key to attaining that goal may lie in designing and building batteries not from the top down, ...
Nanomaterials
Dec 3, 2012
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(Phys.org)—The next generation of sustainable energy systems, from magnetic storage to offshore wind turbines, hinges in part on high-temperature superconductors (HTS), which can carry current with zero loss and perfect ...
Superconductivity
Nov 29, 2012
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