The Leiden Institute of Physics (LION) is the Physics department of Leiden University, The Netherlands. It is comprised of 40 research groups divided over three research sections: Biological and Soft Matter Physics, Quantum Matter and Optics, and Theoretical Physics. Two physicists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics whilst working at LION. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1913) researched material behaviour at ultra-low temperatures and discovered liquid helium, and Hendrik Lorentz (1902) played a major role in the development of Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity. The most prestigious Dutch science award, the NWO Spinozapremie, has been awarded three times to a professor at LION. Carlo Beenakker (1999), Jan Zaanen (2006) and Dirk Bouwmeester (2014) received the highest honour in Dutch science.
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Leiden theoretical physicists have proven that DNA mechanics, in addition to genetic information in DNA, determines who we are. Helmut Schiessel and his group simulated many DNA sequences and found a correlation between mechanical ...
Biotechnology
Jun 8, 2016
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Scientists need individual photons for quantum cryptography and quantum computers. Leiden physicists have now experimentally demonstrated a new production method. Publication in Physical Review Letters on July 23rd.
Quantum Physics
Jul 23, 2018
3
3809
A new nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) microscope gives researchers an improved instrument to study fundamental physical processes. It also offers new possibilities for medical science—for example, to better study proteins ...
General Physics
Jul 15, 2016
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4179
The quantum world and our world of perception obey different natural laws. Leiden physicists search for the border between both worlds. Now they suggest an upper limit in a study reported in Physical Review Letters.
Quantum Physics
Feb 24, 2016
12
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It's one of the big cosmology debates: The universe is expanding, but how fast exactly? Two available measurements yield different results. Leiden physicist David Harvey adapted an independent third measurement method using ...
Astronomy
Nov 17, 2020
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What is dark matter? How do supermassive black holes form? Primordial black holes might hold the answer to this longstanding question. Leiden and Chinese cosmologists have identified a new way in which these hypothetical ...
General Physics
Aug 30, 2018
42
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For the first time, scientists have entangled four photons in their orbital angular momentum. Leiden physicists sent a laser through a crystal, thereby creating four photons with coupled 'rotation'. So far this has only been ...
Quantum Physics
Feb 3, 2016
5
1310
Researchers have discovered that electrons that spin synchronously around their axes remain superconductive across large distances within magnetic chrome dioxide. Electric current from these electrons can flip small magnets, ...
General Physics
Nov 14, 2016
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1221
Theoretical physicists have found Weyl fermions to exhibit paradoxical behavior in contradiction to a 30-year-old fundamental theory of electromagnetism. The discovery has possible applications in spintronics. The study ...
General Physics
May 23, 2017
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816
The standard approach to building a quantum computer with majoranas as building blocks is to convert them into qubits. However, a promising application of quantum computing—quantum chemistry—would require these qubits ...
General Physics
May 31, 2018
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