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. A new type of advanced microscope (wide-field coherent multidimensional microscopy) has been developed. It uses a carefully designed sequence of ultrashort light pulses to study the behavior of high-tech materials, with potential practical applications in the study of innovative materials such as those used to build solar panels. This is the result of work by a research group of physicists from the Faculty of Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, and Natural Sciences at Università Cattolica's Brescia campus who, for the first time, have developed a "multidimensional microscope" that, in a sense, records the behavior of materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ultrashort-laser-pulses-microscope-electron.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:10:01 EDT news710610361 The bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE), a photoelectric effect that generates photocurrent without a p–n junction, can persist even when a material's average crystal structure remains centrosymmetric, a study from Institute of Science Tokyo has found. Researchers demonstrated this in CuCrP2S6, a van der Waals material that transitions from a noncentrosymmetric to a centrosymmetric average structure. The finding challenges the conventional view of BPVE and suggests a new strategy for enhancing photoelectric conversion. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-atomic-motion-solar-cells-conventional.html Condensed Matter Mon, 05 Oct 2026 16:20:16 EDT news710425741 If you're reading this, your body probably contains forever chemicals. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chemicals-yeast-ai.html Environment Mon, 05 Oct 2026 15:00:10 EDT news710415842 Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are fluorescent carbon nanomaterials with potential applications in sensing, optoelectronics, displays, anticounterfeiting and environmental technologies. Their optical properties can be adjusted by modifying the carbon structure and surface chemistry, particularly through defect states and the incorporation of heteroatoms. However, achieving predictable and continuous tuning of photoluminescence from a single carbon precursor remains difficult. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-plastic-yields-carbon-quantum-dots.html Nanophysics Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:20:12 EDT news710412122 In a new Physical Review Letters study, researchers have demonstrated that bending diamond nanostructures can tune the light they emit without doping. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nanoribbons-tunes-diamond-emission-doping.html Nanophysics Wed, 30 Sep 2026 15:20:06 EDT news709983577 Quantum photonics could be a pivotal part of future quantum technology if the right materials can be created, a new review paper has found. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ultrathin-materials-quantum-circuits-programmable.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 25 Sep 2026 15:40:01 EDT news709554121 An electron's charge is normally fixed, like a coin you can't break into pieces. But if electrons are cooled close to absolute zero and trapped in a two-dimensional layer under a powerful magnetic field, they organize into a collective state of "quasiparticles" that seem to hold only a fraction of an electron's charge. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-rare-quantum-state-reveals-particles.html General Physics Fri, 25 Sep 2026 09:00:08 EDT news709544881 Superconductors can carry electrical current without resistance, but only up to a maximum value known as the critical current. The critical current is a crucial figure of merit for applications, and materials science has long been focused on increasing this limit. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) have now shown that, in type-II superconductors, this conventional limit can be exceeded when the current is applied for only a few picoseconds. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-picosecond-pulses-superconductors-critical-current.html Superconductivity Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:00:01 EDT news709467061 A Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) research team led by professors Taeyeon Kim and Doo-Hyun Ko of the Department of Chemistry recently published a comprehensive review titled "Carrier Dynamics in Nonfullerene Acceptor Organic Photovoltaics through Ultrafast Spectroscopy" in the journal ACS Nano. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-carrier-dynamics-efficient-solar-cells.html Nanophysics Mon, 14 Sep 2026 15:00:15 EDT news708616621 Metal-insulator transitions (MITs), in which a material changes from a metallic state with low resistivity to an insulating state because of a change in an external parameter, such as temperature, pressure or an electric field, are a central topic in fundamental physics research. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-crystal-reveals-joule-stabilizes-resistive.html Condensed Matter Mon, 31 Aug 2026 17:40:03 EDT news707405701 Electrons, particles that carry a negative electric charge, typically move through materials. At low densities and temperatures, however, the electrical repulsion between them can overpower their tendency to move, prompting them to arrange themselves into ordered patterns known as Wigner crystals. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-reveals-internal-motion-electron-crystals.html Condensed Matter Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:03 EDT news706964413 Quantum dots are semiconductor crystals only a few nanometers in size. Their ability to produce bright, precisely tunable colors has made them promising materials for light-emitting diodes, displays, solar cells and other optoelectronic technologies. Yet heat remains a major obstacle to their practical use. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-dots-dual-modification.html Nanophysics Fri, 21 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news706524781 A research team led by Yang Lu from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has uncovered the microscopic physical nature of ultralarge elasticity in covalent semiconductors such as silicon and diamond. The discovery provides quantitative guidance for deep elastic strain engineering (DESE), paving the way for the development of next-generation electronic, optoelectronic and quantum devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-silicon-diamond-extreme-reversible.html Condensed Matter Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:20:06 EDT news706448821 Self-assembling, anthracene-based supramolecular nanofibers can enable excitons to migrate hundreds of nanometers, according to a new experimental finding by researchers at Science Tokyo. Coupling these nanofibers with a plasmonic gold nanohole substrate further doubles exciton diffusivity. By mitigating the limited diffusivity of singlet excitons in organic semiconductors, this approach offers a new strategy for improving optoelectronic technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-supramolecular-nanofibers-paired-nanohole-substrate.html Nanophysics Wed, 19 Aug 2026 19:40:01 EDT news706378622 New research introduces a contactless way to see how mirror-image materials respond differently to circularly polarized light, without first building them into a complete electronic device. The researchers developed a novel method based on light-induced charge separation that allows researchers to directly probe how the material's structure acts like a microscopic filter, influencing how electrons separate and move. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-contactless-method-reveals-mirror-image.html Condensed Matter Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:20:04 EDT news705670261 Every electronic and optoelectronic device generates heat, and today that heat is managed almost entirely from the outside. Heatsinks, fans, cold plates and refrigerators are bulky exterior measures bolted onto a chip or package after the fact. They treat heat as a single averaged quantity to be removed in bulk, even though the heat is actually produced locally, component by component, deep inside the circuitry. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-circuits-electronics-oldest-power.html Condensed Matter Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:40:10 EDT news705585471 Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are often described as a "fifth state of matter": a quantum state in which many particles lose their individual identities and behave as one collective object. For more than 60 years, researchers have sought to create such condensates from excitons—electron-hole pairs—as a solid-state route to macroscopic quantum coherence, which is useful for quantum technologies. This has been difficult to realize in controllable semiconductor devices because optically generated excitons have very short lifetimes of around a billionth of a second, and BECs are normally attained with ultracold gases in a vacuum. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-fluid-reveals-hidden-states.html Condensed Matter Tue, 04 Aug 2026 17:40:02 EDT news705076621 Researchers at Flinders University have discovered an unexpected way light can control tiny electronic structures inside advanced materials, a development that could help pave the way for more energy-efficient memory devices, sensors and future computing technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nanoscale-domains-ferroelectric-crystal.html Condensed Matter Mon, 03 Aug 2026 16:50:01 EDT news704993701 Resolving a long-standing problem in semiconductor physics and optoelectronics, a team of researchers from Skoltech—a VEB.RF group institution—and their colleagues from ITMO University and HSE University have for the first time demonstrated direct electrical pumping of a polariton laser based on a solution-processed halide perovskite microcrystal. Published in Nature, this solution to a decades-long technological challenge ushers in inexpensive nonepitaxial laser diodes operating under continuous electric current. These could be used in optical sensing and spectroscopy, high-speed computing and energy-efficient neuromorphic computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-electrically-perovskite-polariton-laser-diode.html Condensed Matter Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:20:06 EDT news704544242 Electronic motion sets the stage for virtually every light-induced process in nature, from the first step of a chemical reaction to the flow of charge in a solid. Yet these processes unfold so rapidly that they can be observed only with flashes of light lasting a few hundred attoseconds—billionths of a billionth of a second. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-attosecond-capture-electrons-motion.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:40:06 EDT news704538601 A fleeting photoinduced electronic state and the subsequent formation of a photoinduced hidden state in a metal–organic framework were captured in just 30 femtoseconds by researchers at Science Tokyo, Tohoku University and Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan. By combining ultrafast laser spectroscopy with theoretical analysis, the researchers found that a transient electronic state plays a key role in this process. The findings provide new insights into controlling material properties with light for future applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-reveals-transient-electronic-hidden-state.html Condensed Matter Mon, 27 Jul 2026 16:30:01 EDT news704386981 Photographs can reveal things that are otherwise impossible for the naked eye to see, be they distant galaxies or microscopic cells. Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed a practical and versatile imaging technique that makes another usually invisible phenomenon visible: surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), light waves that travel along metal surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-dots-reveal-hidden-metal.html Nanophysics Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:40:07 EDT news704113602 Researchers at City College of New York physicist Vinod M. Menon's Laboratory for Nano and Micro Photonics (LaNMP) have outlined an emerging frontier in quantum materials: atomically thin systems in which light, magnetism and electric charge are strongly intertwined. This rapidly evolving field could enable next-generation optoelectronic and quantum technologies leveraging the coupled dynamics of light, charge and spin. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-frontier-quantum-materials.html Condensed Matter Tue, 14 Jul 2026 09:00:02 EDT news703232979 Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are used in everything from household lighting and mobile phones to large display screens. Improving their efficiency could reduce energy use and enhance performance across a wide range of technologies. A new study involving researchers from the University of Liverpool and the University of Strathclyde has demonstrated a powerful way to identify tiny crystal defects that can reduce the efficiency of LED materials. The advance could help scientists better understand how these defects form and ultimately support the development of more efficient electronic and optoelectronic devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-imaging-method-fresh-insight-materials.html Analytical Chemistry Sun, 12 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news702896148 Nanocrystals are already used in millions of devices, including televisions, laptops and displays, and are considered key materials for the next generation of quantum, sensing and solar technologies. However, they have not yet fully realized their potential. One major reason is their inherent heterogeneity: A single solution contains billions of nanocrystals whose properties can differ substantially. Although these particles can be characterized, important quality parameters are typically accessible only as average values across the entire sample. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-method-particle-quality-nanocrystal.html Nanomaterials Sun, 12 Jul 2026 08:00:02 EDT news702822051 Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have developed gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) nanosheets that may enhance camera resolution in compact devices, including smartphones and medical endoscopes. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-transparent-nanosheets-cameras-high-resolution.html Nanophysics Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:40:01 EDT news702802141 Phase transformations—in which a material changes from one crystal structure to another, thereby acquiring dramatically different properties—are ubiquitous in nature. Understanding the microscopic mechanisms of these transformations is essential for controlling material properties and designing functional devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-atomic-domino-effect-phase-dimensional.html Nanomaterials Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:00:08 EDT news702563334 Two-dimensional (2D) perovskites are increasingly recognized as promising candidate materials for the next generation of optoelectronic devices. These materials combine key characteristics of both 2D semiconductors and three-dimensional (3D) perovskites. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-2d-perovskites.html Nanophysics Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:20:05 EDT news702212042 Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are tiny carbon-based nanomaterials that have attracted increasing attention as environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional heavy-metal quantum dots. They are lightweight, photostable and potentially biocompatible, and their light absorption and emission properties can be tuned. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-atomic-defects-carbon-quantum-dots.html Nanophysics Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:00:01 EDT news701696975 In a recent study, Manish Garg, independent group leader at Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI FKF), succeeded in probing the local properties of bright and dark excitons in the organic superconductor copper naphthalocyanine (CuNc). The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-packet-interferometry-captures-elusive-dark.html Condensed Matter Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:10:03 EDT news701453702