https://phys.org/physics-news/ en-us The latest news in physics, materials science, quantum physics, optics and photonics, superconductivity science and technology. Updated Daily. Fusion power is expected to be a sustainable energy source that emits no carbon dioxide during electricity generation. To achieve this, research is underway worldwide to confine high-temperature plasma using magnetic fields. To initiate a fusion reaction, high-energy particles or waves must be injected from outside to heat the plasma to extremely high temperatures. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-unstable-plasma-generates-reveal.html Plasma Physics Fri, 13 Nov 2026 18:20:02 EST news713800382 A team of physicists and computer scientists led by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) approach that learns on its own to separate important high-energy particle jet signals from the enormous background of particles recorded in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, where two beams of heavy ions collide at near the speed of light. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-ai-particle-jets-background-noise.html General Physics Fri, 13 Nov 2026 12:40:07 EST news713786541 Researchers at National Taiwan University (NTU) have reported the first experimental evidence of heat-current-driven transverse accumulation of electrons' orbital angular momentum, a phenomenon known as the orbital Nernst effect. The study was recently published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-electron-orbital-currents-revealing-experimental.html Condensed Matter Fri, 13 Nov 2026 12:00:12 EST news713785261 An international research team led by Nobuhiro Yanai from the University of Tokyo and Michael R. Wasielewski from Northwestern University has created polarized radical pairs, molecules with unpaired electrons whose spins align, in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), porous materials consisting of metal ions linked by organic molecules. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-molecules-porous-crystals-potential-quantum.html Quantum Physics Fri, 13 Nov 2026 05:00:01 EST news713706781 Researchers from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw (UW) and the Center for Optical Quantum Technologies at the University of Warsaw's Center for New Technologies (CeNT UW) have developed a method for ultrasensitive microwave sensing. Using cold, strongly interacting Rydberg atoms as a microwave detector, the researchers observed that carefully engineered interactions between the atoms make the atomic state resistant to loss. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-atomic-interactions-microwave-sensor-capture.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 12 Nov 2026 19:10:01 EST news713722981 Researchers have developed a new approach that can precisely count from zero to more than 9,000 individual photons. The advance opens new possibilities for studying quantum light at large scales and making precise optical measurements. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-multiplexed-detector-precisely-photons.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 12 Nov 2026 18:30:02 EST news713722802 The universe's dominance by ordinary matter is compelling evidence that matter and antimatter are not perfect reflections of each other. However, known differences do not explain the scale of this imbalance, leaving open the possibility that unknown physics is responsible. A new analysis of meson decays, conducted by the LHCb collaboration, has narrowed the scope of the search for such a scenario while paving the way for more precise measurements in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-matterantimatter-asymmetry-evidence-physics.html General Physics Thu, 12 Nov 2026 18:00:09 EST news713718121 Researchers at Cornell have developed a laser-cooling technique that could potentially remove a significant bottleneck in the development of larger, faster quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-chip-based-laser-cooling-ease.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 12 Nov 2026 17:40:10 EST news713717881 Scientists from the Institute of Metal Research (IMR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have directly observed liquid-like, glass-like and crystal-like phonon behaviors coexisting in a crystalline solid—the layered superionic conductor AgCrSe₂. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-layered-superionic-conductor-hosts-atomic.html Condensed Matter Thu, 12 Nov 2026 17:00:06 EST news713715781 A research team from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), led by professor Jinyang Liang, is pushing the limits of ultrafast imaging with a new technology capable of capturing three-dimensional images at speeds of up to 150,000 frames per second. Published in the journal Nature Communications, this study establishes a new world record in profilometry. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-ultrafast-3d-imaging-captures-fleeting.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:10:01 EST news713720581 First, one person stands up, followed by their neighbors, one after another, until a wave sweeps through the stadium. Atoms within a material move in a similar way: rather than remaining completely still in their positions, they vibrate together around their respective positions. In physics, these collective lattice vibrations are known as "phonons." Some of them can interact with light and change its energy in the process. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-imperfections-reveal-unexpected-links-atomic.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 12 Nov 2026 14:40:16 EST news713707861 In materials science labs around the world, researchers regularly reproduce a peculiar experiment. Under a microscope, they use tiny robotic manipulators to lay two sheets of carbon, each a single atom thick, against one another. They then rotate the top sheet against the bottom. The two identical lattices of atoms, when twisted relative to one another, bloom into a complex moiré pattern, a shifting complex of honeycomb shapes that grow and shrink as the angle between the layers changes. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-magic-angle-graphene-tuning-resistance.html Condensed Matter Thu, 12 Nov 2026 14:00:31 EST news713706541 Researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have developed a unified framework for establishing symmetry criteria and classifying unconventional magnets. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-framework-unconventional-magnets.html Condensed Matter Thu, 12 Nov 2026 11:00:49 EST news713638261 Clogging is a phenomenon in which moving particles get stuck, slowing or blocking the flow, but how this transition occurs has remained experimentally unproven. Researchers from Science Tokyo studied superconducting vortices to demonstrate that clogging is a nonequilibrium phase transition. Using a two-step measurement protocol, they distinguished clogging from conventional pinning and revealed that both transitions share a critical point, offering new insights into predicting and controlling clogging across diverse systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-superconducting-vortices-experimental-evidence-clogging.html Condensed Matter Wed, 11 Nov 2026 18:00:05 EST news713633161 For more than 50 years, engineers have described light in optical fiber using a convenient shortcut, one that works so well it is rarely questioned. Engineers at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) in Johannesburg, South Africa, have now shown that this shortcut hides a small but real effect. A magnet placed beside a multimode fiber, rather than along it, can change the light traveling inside. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-standard-shortcut-1970s-magneto-optic.html Condensed Matter Wed, 11 Nov 2026 08:40:04 EST news713608501 A shoebox-sized color detection device could enable precise measurements at record resolution, according to new research led by Adelaide University. An international team exploited an integrating sphere—a highly reflective hollow cavity that causes light to bounce around inside many times before exiting—to demonstrate a device that can measure the color (wavelength) composition of light with extreme precision at a resolution of just 6 femtometers. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-harnessing-laser-nuisance-resolution-atomic.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 18:00:07 EST news713539426 Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Ames National Laboratory have discovered a way to control the handedness of magnons, tiny magnetic waves that can carry information through materials. By changing the material's magnetic state with an external magnetic field, they were able to switch magnon behavior, a finding with potential applications in quantum information and quantum computing technologies. Their findings are published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-scientists-magnetic-future-quantum-technologies.html Condensed Matter Tue, 10 Nov 2026 16:40:02 EST news713536441 An international collaboration demonstrates that classical nonlinear dynamics can drive single- and two-photon states to thermalize, opening new avenues for simulating complex quantum many-body systems within accessible optical architectures. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-classicalquantum-interactions-complex-quantum-behavior.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 16:30:01 EST news713545141 The possibility of controlling "forbidden" excitations of vibrations in molecules could form the basis of extremely accurate clocks, quantum bits and precise tests of the fundamental laws of physics. Researchers at the University of Basel have now identified and controlled such "forbidden" transitions in single isolated nitrogen molecules without destroying them. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-laser-reveal-forbidden-vibrations-molecules.html General Physics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 15:00:01 EST news713533922 In an international collaboration, researchers have developed a method that produces significantly higher-quality three-dimensional X-ray images than previously possible. The technique is used for 3D imaging with so-called X-ray nanotomography. The researchers' approach draws on expertise in mathematics and computational science. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-mathematical-method-sharpens-ray-images.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 13:20:02 EST news713531535 Researchers at the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and their collaborators used lasers and neutrons to observe a long-lived quantum state in a magnetic material, opening a new way to study materials systems driven far from their equilibrium. Manipulation of quantum magnets is important for advancing quantum information science and could reduce loss of transported information, improve memory devices and benefit other quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-laser-driven-magnetic-state-defies.html Condensed Matter Tue, 10 Nov 2026 12:00:10 EST news713527741 An international collaboration of physicists has presented its first results in its search for hypothetical particles that could help to explain the vast disparity between the strength of gravity and the three fundamental forces described by the Standard Model. Following three years of data collection at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)'s FASER experiment, the FASER Collaboration found no evidence for these heavy, slow-moving "quirks." https://phys.org/news/2026-11-lhc-collaboration-result-quirks.html General Physics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 11:50:01 EST news713532498 Physicists at the ALPS II collaboration have reported the first results from the Any-Light-Particle-Search (ALPS) II experiment: the most sensitive instrument of its kind in the search for hypothetical "axions." Headed by Axel Lindner at the DESY Research Centre in Germany, the collaboration found no evidence for axions in this initial campaign, but its results offer valuable guidance for future runs: tightening the search for one of the most promising candidates for dark matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-world-sensitive-lab-based-axion.html General Physics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 08:40:01 EST news713447989 Quantum computers could curb the vast energy demands of artificial intelligence data centers with their ability to run complex calculations, one of the tech's pioneers told AFP. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-quantum-ai-energy-tech-founder.html Quantum Physics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:12:30 EST news713513461 Energy can be carried in a number of ways: by electrons, the particles that underpin all modern electronics, as well as by quasiparticles, the results of different particles interacting with one another at the quantum level. Columbia chemist Milan Delor has been watching these different forms of energy flow with an instrument called stroboSCAT, a unique microscope that uses strobe-like light pulses to capture particles and quasiparticles as they move through different materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-microscope-individual-quantum-particles-motion.html Condensed Matter Mon, 09 Nov 2026 17:30:05 EST news713464801 A research team led by Lu Haipeng, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), has achieved a breakthrough in preserving spin information for optoelectronic technologies. The team has developed a perovskite chiral multiple quantum-well system that maintains spin polarization approximately 300 times longer at room temperature. The study opens new possibilities for future quantum technologies and next-generation spin-based applications. The study was published in the journal Nature Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-perovskite-room-temperature-polarization-successive.html Condensed Matter Mon, 09 Nov 2026 17:20:10 EST news713452861 An infrared signal thought to reveal how molecules in perovskite solar materials respond to light-generated charges can arise largely from the way light travels through the thin film itself, a new theoretical study shows. Jun Nishida, assistant professor at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), Japan, found that light-generated charges alter how infrared light is reflected and transmitted within the film layers, producing sharp features that resemble changes in molecular vibrations even when the vibrations themselves are unaltered. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-thin-masquerade-molecular-perovskite-solar.html Condensed Matter Mon, 09 Nov 2026 17:00:14 EST news713452621 The tiny atomic defects so important for future quantum technologies can be difficult to spot. Fortunately, they leave behind some clues. The defects can alter how a material responds to light, producing a distinctive optical fingerprint that scientists can measure. The challenge is figuring out which fingerprints belong to which defects. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-atomic-defects-telltale-optical-fingerprints.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 09 Nov 2026 14:40:09 EST news713448601 How can something remain intact when it should naturally break apart? This question has been addressed by researchers at RPTU. Their work has led to the experimental observation of an unusual quantum state in which two atoms remain bound together even though they possess enough energy to separate. The results have been published in the journal Nature Physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-quantum-atoms-bound-energy.html Quantum Physics Mon, 09 Nov 2026 13:00:16 EST news713447101 Tiny levitated magnets are able to avoid contact friction, making them useful for detecting extremely weak forces and magnetic fields and acting as ultralow-noise quantum sensors and precision measurement tools. Combining levitation with extreme cold further reduces unwanted motion that can make faint signals hard to detect. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-fastest-levitated-magnet-physicists-dark.html General Physics Mon, 09 Nov 2026 12:30:01 EST news713447973