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. Silicon semiconductors are widely used as particle detectors; however, their long-term operation is constrained by performance degradation in high-radiation environments. Researchers at University of Tsukuba have demonstrated real-time, two-dimensional position detection of individual charged particles using a gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor with superior radiation tolerance. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-real-event-position-high-tolerance.html General Physics Mon, 02 Feb 2026 16:52:31 EST news689273521 Researchers from The University of Osaka created a reagent for important building-block molecules with an abundant main-group element, gallium. These early findings show that an organic gallium compound can display transition-metal-like reactivity under light irradiation. Using common main-group elements like gallium offers a new way to make sustainable catalysts that do not need expensive transition metals, which are environmentally damaging and vulnerable to supply disruption. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-group-elements-lucky-sustainable-redox.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 28 Nov 2025 08:00:01 EST news683390641 Ammonia fuels agriculture, supports industry, and is increasingly viewed as a key player in future clean-energy systems. Yet producing it is heat and pressure intensive. A research team has developed an electrocatalyst that helps turn nitrate—a common pollutant found in groundwater and agricultural runoff—into ammonia under far milder conditions. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-electrocatalyst-recycles-common-pollutant-ammonia.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:11:03 EST news683298661 Researchers have successfully grown platinum crystals in liquid metal, using a powerful X-ray technique giving rare insight into how these delicate crystals form and grow. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-ray-technique-captures-footage-crystals.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 24 Nov 2025 13:22:40 EST news683212953 In a new Nature study, researchers at the University of Manchester have achieved unprecedented electronic quality in graphene by developing a proximity screening technique that places conducting gates just one nanometer away from the carbon lattice. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-proximity-screening-graphene-electronic-quality.html Nanophysics Tue, 16 Sep 2025 07:30:01 EDT news677151225 Led by Assistant Professor Kou Li, a research group at Chuo University, Japan, has developed a synergetic strategy among non-destructive terahertz (THz)–infrared (IR) photo-monitoring techniques and ultrabroadband sensitive imager sheets toward demonstrating in-line real-time multi-scale quality inspections of pharmaceutical agent pills. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-permeable-pharmaceuticals-real-tablet-quality.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 10 Sep 2025 20:00:01 EDT news676716336 Wurtzite-structured crystals, characterized by their hexagonal symmetry, are widely valued for their unique electronic and piezoelectric properties—their ability to generate an electric charge when subjected to mechanical stress. Among these, gallium nitride (GaN), a key material in blue light-emitting diodes, and aluminum nitride (AlN), used in high-frequency radio frequency (RF) filters in smartphones, are prominent examples. These materials play a crucial role in advanced semiconductors, sensors, and actuators. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-wurtzite-mgsin-thin-electronic-properties.html Nanophysics Wed, 30 Apr 2025 14:17:04 EDT news665241421 Physicists at TU Dortmund University have periodically driven a time crystal and discovered a remarkable variety of nonlinear dynamic phenomena, ranging from perfect synchronization to chaotic behavior within a single semiconductor structure. The team has now published its latest findings in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-physicists-dynamic-phenomena-crystal.html Condensed Matter Wed, 02 Apr 2025 11:50:03 EDT news662813401 In an advance for quantum technologies, researchers at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, have created a functional quantum register using the atoms inside a semiconductor quantum dot. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-scientists-register-thousands-entangled-nuclei.html Quantum Physics Wed, 29 Jan 2025 09:09:05 EST news657364141 Detecting infrared light is critical in an enormous range of technologies, from remote controls to autofocus systems to self-driving cars and virtual reality headsets. That means there would be major benefits from improving the efficiency of infrared sensors, such as photodiodes. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-infrared-sensors-photodiode-boosts-responsivity.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 02 Jan 2025 12:56:03 EST news655044961 When it comes to the human body, form and function work together. The shape and structure of our hands enable us to hold and manipulate things. Tiny air sacs in our lungs called alveoli allow for air exchange and help us breathe in and out. And tree-like blood vessels branch throughout our body, delivering oxygen from our head to our toes. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-molding-complex-tissues-gallium-method.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 11 Dec 2024 11:08:07 EST news653137681 High harmonic generation (HHG) is a highly non-linear phenomenon where a system (for example, an atom) absorbs many photons of a laser and emits photons of much higher energy, whose frequency is a harmonic (that is, a multiple) of the incoming laser's frequency. Historically, the theoretical description of this process was addressed from a semi-classical perspective, which treated matter (the electrons of the atoms) quantum-mechanically, but the incoming light classically. According to this approach, the emitted photons should also behave classically. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-experimental-evidence-high-harmonic-generation.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 02 Dec 2024 12:06:06 EST news652363561 Researchers have successfully created electrically defined quantum dots in zinc oxide (ZnO) heterostructures, marking a significant milestone in the development of quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-pathway-quantum-devices-electrically-dots.html Nanophysics Tue, 26 Nov 2024 12:32:07 EST news651846721 Catalysts play an important role in the manufacture of many products that we encounter in everyday life—for example in cars for exhaust gas purification or in the chemical industry in the production of fertilizers. Catalysts ensure that these reactions take place with low energy consumption and with as few side reactions as possible. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-molecules-sustainable-catalysts-chemists-succeed.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 26 Sep 2024 09:35:03 EDT news646562101 Gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors can now be grown without ammonia, a toxic chemical that needs a sophisticated detoxifying system before it can be released into the atmosphere. The new technique is not only more environmentally friendly but also allows for the efficient and high-quality growth of crystals at a lower cost. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-ammonia-free-gallium-nitride-semiconductor.html Materials Science Wed, 31 Jul 2024 05:51:17 EDT news641623871 One of the challenges of cramming smarter and more powerful electronics into ever-shrinking devices is developing the tools and techniques to analyze the materials that make them up with increasingly intimate precision. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-physicists-method-atom-defects-semiconductors.html Condensed Matter Thu, 04 Jul 2024 05:00:01 EDT news639232201 An updated model reconciles the gap between recent experiments and theory concerning polarization in wurtzite semiconductors—paving the way for the development of smaller, faster and more efficient electronic devices, according to a recent study by University of Michigan researchers. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-textbook-polarization-gallium-nitride-optimize.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 28 Jun 2024 11:27:14 EDT news638792827 South Korean researchers have successfully developed technology to mass-produce quantum dot lasers, widely used in data centers and quantum communications. This breakthrough paves the way for reducing the production cost of semiconductor lasers to one-sixth of the current cost. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-technology-mass-quantum-dot-lasers.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 28 Jun 2024 09:40:30 EDT news638786423 Nearly 150 years after gallium was discovered and added to the periodic table, University of Auckland scientists have uncovered previously-unknown aspects of the metal's structure and behavior. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-scientists-uncover-previously-unknown-properties.html Materials Science Thu, 27 Jun 2024 07:58:34 EDT news638693865 The wide availability of light-emitting devices (LEDs) for consumer use has led to a dramatic decrease in the cost of lighting our homes and other buildings. This is owing to the much higher efficiency of LEDs in converting electrical energy into light when compared with incandescent or even fluorescent bulbs. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-impact-carbon-impurities-quality-gallium.html Condensed Matter Mon, 10 Jun 2024 09:38:44 EDT news637231121 Searching for the elusive neutrino takes on many forms. Detectors consisting of many tons of gallium are used in several experiments because neutrino interactions can occur on the stable gallium-71 (71Ga) nucleus and transform it into a radioactive isotope of germanium (71Ge) with an 11-day half-life that can then be observed with traditional radiation detectors. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-germanium-isotope-day-life.html General Physics Wed, 05 Jun 2024 15:22:02 EDT news636819721 Point defects (e.g. missing, extra or swapped atoms) in crystalline materials often determine the actual electronic and optical response of a given material. For example, controlled substitutions in semiconductors like silicon are the backbone of modern technology. Despite their importance, point defects are notoriously difficult to simulate and characterize, particularly across wide regions of the periodic table. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-framework-databasing-properties-crystal-defects.html Condensed Matter Thu, 23 May 2024 17:21:03 EDT news635703661 The scorching surface of Venus, where temperatures can climb to 480°C (hot enough to melt lead), is an inhospitable place for humans and machines alike. One reason scientists have not yet been able to send a rover to the planet's surface is that silicon-based electronics can't operate in such extreme temperatures for an extended period of time. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-properties-materials-electronics-extremely-hot.html Condensed Matter Thu, 23 May 2024 09:37:05 EDT news635675821 What if your earbuds could do everything your smartphone can do already, except better? What sounds a bit like science fiction may actually not be so far off. A new class of synthetic materials could herald the next revolution of wireless technologies, enabling devices to be smaller, require less signal strength and use less power. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-phononics-materials-smaller-powerful-wireless.html General Physics Thu, 09 May 2024 17:23:04 EDT news634494181 The demand for high pixel-count, low-cost focal-plane arrays in the near-infrared (NIR) and short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectra has surged due to their potential applications in AI-driven technologies such as 3D face-identification, augmented/virtual reality, robotics, and autonomous vehicles. Traditional SWIR photodiodes rely on crystalline germanium (Ge) or indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs), which have limitations including high dark current and complex fabrication processes. The advent of organic semiconductors offers a promising alternative, with the potential for easier fabrication and tunable optical properties. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-infrared-photodetectors-advance-imaging-technology.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 09 May 2024 15:08:31 EDT news634486108 Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed flexible films that exhibit bright colors purely by virtue of their physical structure, without the need for any pigment. When stretched, the films exhibit a change in color as a response to the mechanical deformation. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-scientists-tunable-displays-sensors.html Nanomaterials Tue, 19 Mar 2024 09:26:03 EDT news630059161 Scientists around the world work hard to rinse quantum systems for noise, which may disturb the function of tomorrow's powerful quantum computers. Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) have found a way to use noise to process quantum information. This raises the performance of the quantum computing unit, the qubit. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-elegant-noise-quantum.html Quantum Physics Mon, 18 Mar 2024 11:40:03 EDT news629980801 Until recently, chalcopyrite-based solar cells have achieved a maximum energy conversion efficiency of 23.35%, as reported in 2019 by Solar Frontier, a former Solar Energy company based in Japan. Further boosting this efficiency, however, has so far proved challenging. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-strategy-boost-efficiency-copper-indium.html Materials Science Sat, 02 Mar 2024 08:30:01 EST news628503723 Applications such as LIDAR, 3D imaging for mobile devices, automotive and augmented/virtual reality or night vision for surveillance, rely on the development of short-wave infrared (SWIR) photodetectors. These devices are capable of seeing in the region of the spectrum that is invisible to our eye since they operate in the spectral window of 1-2 µm. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-environmentally-friendly-insbinp-colloidal-quantum.html Nanophysics Wed, 07 Feb 2024 09:33:12 EST news626520787 A team from TU Dortmund University recently succeeded in producing a highly durable time crystal that lived millions of times longer than could be shown in previous experiments. By doing so, they have corroborated an extremely interesting phenomenon that Nobel Prize laureate Frank Wilczek postulated around ten years ago and which had already found its way into science fiction movies. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-physicists-highly-robust-crystal.html Condensed Matter Thu, 01 Feb 2024 10:45:39 EST news626006735