News tagged with review letters

Scudder makes first observations of process linked to northern lights

(Phys.org) -- A University of Iowa researcher wants you to visualize a plate of spaghetti when you think of the northern lights.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 01, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Good vibes: Coupling electron spin states and carbon nanotube vibrations

(Phys.org) -- An electron’s spin is separate from its motion, and is suitable for use in both highly-precise magnetic sensing as well as a qubit in quantum computing. Recently, scientists at the University ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast feature

A magnetic approach to lattices

(Phys.org) -- JQI experimentalists under the direction of Ian Spielman are in the business of using lasers to create novel environments for neutral atoms. For instance, this research group previously enticed ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

You can't play nano-billiards on a bumpy table

(Phys.org) -- There’s nothing worse than a shonky pool table with an unseen groove or bump that sends your shot off course: a new study has found that the same goes at the nano-scale, where the “billiard ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

In metallic glasses, researchers find a few new atomic structures

Drawing on powerful computational tools and a state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscope, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison and Iowa State University materials science and engineering researchers has ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created May 11, 2012 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

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

Two stopped light pulses interact with each other

(Phys.org) -- For the first time, physicists have experimentally demonstrated the interaction of two motionless light pulses. Because the stopped light pulses have a long interaction time, it increases the ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 08, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (16) | comments 8 | with audio podcast feature

Graphene found to emit infrared light

(Phys.org) -- Ever since its discovery in 2004, graphene, the honey-comb arranged sheet of one atom thick carbon atoms, has continued to make waves in both the physics and engineering worlds. Now comes news ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Apr 26, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (15) | comments 11 | with audio podcast report

Does the quantum wave function represent reality?

(Phys.org) -- At the heart of quantum mechanics lies the wave function, a probability function used by physicists to understand the nanoscale world. Using the wave function, physicists can calculate a system's ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (38) | comments 136 | with audio podcast feature

Scientists predict paradoxical laser effect

New laser-effect, discovered by scientists from the Vienna University of Technology, Princeton, Yale and ETH Zurich: If coupled, lasers can switch each other off, leading to a "laser blackout".

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 18 | with audio podcast

What is the best way of stacking apples?

When stacking apples on a market stall, fruit sellers "naturally" adopt a particular arrangement: a regular pyramid with a triangular base. A French-German team, which includes in particular the Laboratoire ...

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Physicists see solution to critical barrier to fusion

(Phys.org) -- Physicists have discovered a possible solution to a mystery that has long baffled researchers working to harness fusion. If confirmed by experiment, the finding could help scientists eliminate ...

Physics / Plasma Physics

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (49) | comments 57 | with audio podcast

Trade-off coding for quantum communication provides more benefits than previously thought

(Phys.org) -- In optical communication systems, the overall performance depends on the strategy used to transmit photons from one location to another. In previous attempts to optimize this performance, scientists ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Looking through the glass transition on an ultrafast timescale

(Phys.org) -- When chemists look at a drinking glass filled with water and a few ice cubes, it's not clear to them whether the glass is more like the water or the ice.

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Probing hydrogen under extreme conditions

(Phys.org) -- How hydrogen--the most abundant element in the cosmos--responds to extremes of pressure and temperature is one of the major challenges in modern physical science. Moreover, knowledge gleaned ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Apr 13, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast