Mimicking nuclear reactor damage is goal of $5 M grant

A new $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy will enable University of Michigan engineering researchers to advance the understanding of how radiation damages nuclear reactor components.

'Optical clock' yields split-second success

Physicists said Tuesday that a so-called optical lattice clock, touted by some as the time-measuring device of the future, had passed a key accuracy test.

Researchers develop light transistor

TU Vienna has managed to turn the oscillation direction of beams of light – simply by applying an electrical current to a special material. This way, a transistor can be built that functions with light instead of electrical ...

Researchers hope to shed light on dark lightning radiation

Scientists now know that thunderstorms, working as powerful natural terrestrial particle accelerators, produce intense flashes of ionizing radiation called "dark lightning." To further their understanding of this phenomena, ...

Radiation leak at Japan lab; small impact expected

An atomic research lab in northern Japan has reported a radiation leak that may have affected about 50 people, though none were hospitalized and no impact was expected outside the facility, the lab's operator said Saturday.

Elucidating energy shifts in optical tweezers

A small piece of paper sticks to an electrically charged plastic ruler. The principle of this simple classroom physics experiment is applied at the microscopic scale by so-called optical tweezers to get the likes of polystyrene ...

Quantum optics with microwaves

(Phys.org) —Physicists at ETH Zurich have demonstrated one of the quintessential effects of quantum optics—known as the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect—with microwaves, whose frequency is 100'000 times lower than that of visible ...

Saturn to shed its spooky spokes for summer

As Saturn steadily moves along its 29.7-year-long orbit toward summertime in its northern hemisphere NASA's Cassini spacecraft is along for the ride, giving astronomers a front-row seat to seasonal changes taking place on ...

Blackening copper opens new applications

(Phys.org)—Copper is one of the world's most widely used metals. Now researchers at the University of Dundee have found that blackening copper using industry-standard lasers could make it even more adaptable and efficient.

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