https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Envision a material whose magnetic properties and electronic topology can be toggled by exposure to light, paving the way for future electronic devices that do not rely on traditional electrical switching, which wastes energy by producing heat. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-uncover-magnetism-topology-atomically.html Condensed Matter Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:40:06 EDT news712244365 Researchers from Jülich, Aachen and Cologne have performed a quantum operation on a qubit in just 6.8 nanoseconds—with more than 99.98% accuracy. Such operations typically take several tens of nanoseconds in superconducting quantum computers. The paper was published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-gates-nanoseconds-accuracy.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 27 Oct 2026 14:40:12 EDT news712317781 Researchers at the Osaka Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (ORIST), in collaboration with the University of Osaka and Tohoku University, have developed a flexible and stretchable silicon material whose response to terahertz waves can be mechanically tuned. By etching microscopic spiral springs into silicon, the team made the fragile material bendable and stretchable. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-microscopic-fragile-silicon-flexible-terahertz.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 27 Oct 2026 14:20:06 EDT news712316161 The Lycurgus Cup, a world-renowned 4th-century A.D. artifact housed in the British Museum, is constructed of "dichroic" glass that shifts from jade green in reflected light to ruby red in transmitted light. This means that depending on where the light source is positioned, observers can see the cup displayed in two distinctive, contrasting colors. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-technician-year-mystery-replicate-effect.html Materials Science Tue, 27 Oct 2026 10:50:01 EDT news712315254 Quantum networks, systems that connect devices using quantum mechanical effects, could potentially allow users to share information more securely and efficiently. Building these networks typically entails linking stationary qubits, units of quantum information encoded in trapped ions or other physical systems, using photons (particles of light) transmitted through optical fibers. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-bridge-wavelength-gap-quantum-communications.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 27 Oct 2026 08:40:01 EDT news711967827 Researchers at AIST have directly observed magnetic flux quanta generated in a superconductor by photon absorption and demonstrated a new principle of photon detection that identifies the number of photons based on the number of these flux quanta. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-magnetic-flux-quanta-photon.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:20:02 EDT news711982021 Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is a versatile chemical feedstock whose industrial production relies predominantly on an energy-intensive process with a substantial environmental footprint. One alternative is to produce it using a catalyst activated by light. In an international research project involving the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, researchers have now developed a synthesis strategy that allows them to precisely control the spatial arrangement of ions in a carbon nitride. The resulting photocatalyst is three times as efficient as conventional green production methods. The findings have been published in Advanced Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-catalyst-sustainable-production-hydrogen-peroxide.html Materials Science Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:40:06 EDT news711904981 Researchers have observed a molecule in the first instants after it has absorbed light and tracked the coordinated motion of electrons and nuclei with a temporal resolution of three femtoseconds. This is the result achieved by an international research group led by the Politecnico di Milano, which has developed a new apparatus for studying ultrafast photochemical processes. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ultrafast-pulses-track-molecular-motion.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:00:02 EDT news711904681 Researchers at Fraunhofer IAF have developed a laser-enhanced quantum sensor that combines high magnetic-field sensitivity with a large dynamic range. Using laser threshold magnetometry, they improved the ratio of sensitivity and dynamic range by a factor of up to 590 compared with state-of-the-art approaches. The breakthrough is enabled by the first demonstration of 100% optical contrast, combined with strong laser readout signals. The results, published in Nature Communications, open up new prospects for medical diagnostics, navigation, and resource exploration. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-diamond-laser-optical-contrast-magnetic.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:20:08 EDT news711893942 Ever since quantum mechanics first described particles, like electrons, as rippling waves, researchers have wondered if those waves could be trapped in place. Writing today in Science a century later, a team of Columbia University researchers reports waves of electrons becoming trapped for the first time in a metal called Pd₅AlI₂. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-electron-metal.html Condensed Matter Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:00:18 EDT news711812644 Scientists from the Quantum Technologies Group at the Institute of Physics Zagreb, in collaboration with a colleague from the Physics Department at the Faculty of Science (PMF), have experimentally demonstrated for the first time the existence of discrete one-dimensional (1D) solitons in an optically induced photonic lattice in warm rubidium vapor. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-laser-lattice-reveals-discrete-solitons.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:20:07 EDT news711813961 Researchers at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have measured the shortest high-energy X-ray pulses ever recorded at an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). The pulses had photon energies of about 9 kiloelectronvolts (keV) and clocked in at durations of 100 to 400 attoseconds—mere billionths of a billionth of a second. The results are published in Nature Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ray-free-electron-laser-shortest.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 14:40:10 EDT news711803582 An international team of researchers, including members from the University of Michigan, has revealed surprising results that could rewrite our understanding of a key transition in the early universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-hubble-supernova-role-cosmic-reionization.html Astronomy Wed, 21 Oct 2026 13:20:15 EDT news711800461 Quantum networks, systems that connect devices and allow them to exchange information encoded in the quantum states of particles, could enable more secure communications. To build these networks, physicists need to devise strategies that allow distant particles to share quantum states, preserving them long enough to perform calculations or enable communication between devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-atomic-memory-distant-ions-entangled.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:40:12 EDT news711706392 Light is one of the most powerful tools scientists have for probing matter. By interacting with electrons, light reveals how atoms, molecules and materials are structured and how they evolve in time. Highly energetic ultraviolet and X-ray photons are particularly attractive because they can access electrons located close to atomic nuclei, where each chemical element carries its own distinctive electronic fingerprint. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-electrons-extreme-ultraviolet-team-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 20 Oct 2026 14:00:31 EDT news711713761 Today's computer technology, based on silicon chips, is slowly reaching its physical limits. Components cannot be miniaturized indefinitely, and clock speeds cannot be increased indefinitely. At the same time, huge AI data centers are being built in many places, and these consume an immense amount of electricity. This is why scientists around the world are searching for novel materials that can replace or complement silicon technology and consume significantly less electricity. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-rays-reveal-copper-oxide.html Condensed Matter Mon, 19 Oct 2026 11:40:06 EDT news711621013 Researchers have developed and demonstrated a new hybrid photonic platform that integrates quantum emitters with photonic devices, providing a way to reliably control the interaction between photons and quantum information carriers. The chip-based platform, which combines gallium phosphide (GaP) with a diamond substrate, could help make quantum networks more practical by providing a way to connect quantum devices over long distances. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-hybrid-diamond-chip-interactions-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Sun, 18 Oct 2026 09:00:05 EDT news711300067 With about 30 visual pigments, compared to just three in humans, mantis shrimp possess a visual system that remains a mystery. Researchers from ULiège and Humboldt University in Berlin have, for the first time, analyzed these pigments one by one and discovered that some detect red light that very few animals can perceive. This finding, published in Science Advances, has potential applications in optogenetics. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-red-sensitive-pigments-mantis-shrimp.html Plants & Animals Sat, 17 Oct 2026 09:00:01 EDT news711300101 Alzheimer's disease is best known for its effects on memory and cognition, but the disease also involves changes in how brain cells produce and use energy. Mitochondria, the structures that supply much of a cell's energy, can become dysfunctional in Alzheimer's disease. At the same time, changes in blood flow and oxygen availability may place additional demands on brain tissue. Understanding how these processes interact could help researchers characterize metabolic changes that accompany the disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-optical-imaging-links-metabolism-oxygen.html Biotechnology Sat, 17 Oct 2026 04:16:41 EDT news711429340 How do young stars reshape the clouds from which they are born? A new high-resolution 3D model developed by an international team led by Dr Brandt Gaches from the University of Duisburg-Essen shows how the uneven structure of stellar nurseries creates shadows that alter their chemistry and influence the infrared emission observed by the James Webb Space Telescope. The model has now been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-3d-reveals-shadows-reshape-chemistry.html Astronomy Fri, 16 Oct 2026 18:40:04 EDT news711374216 When light hits a tiny defect embedded in a solid material like diamond or silicon carbide, it can kick the defect's electrons into an excited state. These spin defects have the potential to be used as stable, readable qubits for quantum technologies, for example, quantum sensing. But modeling the full physics of their energetics over time—a key step in developing spin defects into new technologies—is a challenging task. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-reveal-defects-energy.html Condensed Matter Thu, 15 Oct 2026 11:40:09 EDT news711280201 Researchers have developed a chip-scale optical ring-laser gyroscope that can measure rotation as slow as 37 degrees per hour. This record sensitivity, approaching Earth's rotation rate of 15 degrees per hour, could eventually be useful for precision navigation and orientation systems, particularly where GPS is unavailable. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chip-scale-gyroscope-rotation-unprecedented.html General Physics Wed, 14 Oct 2026 19:00:10 EDT news711213061 Our brain must be able to learn new things without losing previously stored information or the stability of its networks. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology (LIN) in Magdeburg, together with partners in Bielefeld and Zurich, have investigated how this balance is achieved. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-reshapes-inhibitory-synapses-differently-nerve.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 14 Oct 2026 16:00:12 EDT news711199021 A major software advance could aid the creation of bigger, more reliable quantum computers, a study suggests. Researchers have developed an algorithm that enables off-the-shelf computers to run quantum simulations previously only possible using the world's most powerful supercomputers. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-software-advance-complex-quantum-simulations.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:01:09 EDT news711202202 Quantum information systems could one day shape everyday life through faster computing, sharper sensing and more secure communication. A new result from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U. of I.) marks an important step toward enabling magnetic spins—a quantum property of matter that can be used to store and manipulate information—to play a role in the future of quantum information processing. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-superconducting-circuit-street-quantum.html Superconductivity Wed, 14 Oct 2026 12:20:02 EDT news711191581 Quantum networks are systems that connect different users or devices using principles of quantum mechanics. In the future, these networks could help improve the security of communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-network-entanglement-detectors.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 14 Oct 2026 07:00:01 EDT news711023003 Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the University of Regensburg have developed a method for determining, using light, a quantum property of electrons that has hitherto been difficult to access. The focus is on what is known as Berry curvature—a quantity that describes certain geometric properties of the quantum mechanical states of electrons. The researchers measured it in a layer of the semiconductor tungsten diselenide, just one atomic layer thick, using ultrashort laser pulses. The results have been published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ultrashort-laser-pulses-probe-electrons.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:40:02 EDT news711123481 Magnetic skyrmions (MSks) are swirling patterns of magnetization that form inside certain magnetic materials. They can behave like actual particles in many ways, exhibiting a stable internal structure and distinct boundaries. Because they are extremely small and can be pushed around with relatively little energy, MSks are regarded as promising information carriers in emerging technologies, including low-power memories and logic circuits. However, a major goal in the field has been to find practical ways to control their motion with high precision. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-optical-skyrmions-motion-magnetic.html Condensed Matter Tue, 13 Oct 2026 18:40:11 EDT news711121981 Gravity, the attraction between objects with mass, is the weakest of the four fundamental forces governing physical processes. Detecting the tiny gravitational pull of objects that are just a few millimeters in size and have a very small mass is extremely challenging. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-sensor-gravitational-tiny.html Nanophysics Mon, 12 Oct 2026 08:00:14 EDT news710677528 Many of nature's most important processes depend on how particles of matter interact with light and other force-carrying particles. So far, however, it has proven difficult for conventional computers to determine how individual particles behave in these interactions. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-hybrid-quantum.html Quantum Physics Mon, 12 Oct 2026 06:40:01 EDT news710834148