Physicists discover a new switch for superconductivity

Under certain conditions—usually exceedingly cold ones—some materials shift their structure to unlock new, superconducting behavior. This structural shift is known as a "nematic transition," and physicists suspect that ...

Potential energy surfaces of water mapped for the first time

Water is certainly the best-known liquid in the world. It plays a crucial role in all biological and many chemical processes. The water molecules themselves hardly hold any secrets. In school we learn that water consists ...

Thermoelectrics: From heat to electricity

A lot of heat gets lost during the conversion of energy. Estimates even put it at more than 70%. However, in thermoelectric materials, such as those being studied at the Institute of Solid State Physics at TU Wien, heat can ...

Towards quantum simulation of false vacuum decay

Phase transitions are everywhere, ranging from water boiling to snowflakes melting, and from magnetic transitions in solids to cosmological phase transitions in the early universe. Particularly intriguing are quantum phase ...

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