Microwave oven cooks up solar cell material

University of Utah metallurgists used an old microwave oven to produce a nanocrystal semiconductor rapidly using cheap, abundant and less toxic metals than other semiconductors. They hope it will be used for more efficient ...

One in, two out: Simulating more efficient solar cells

(Phys.org)—Using an exotic form of silicon could substantially improve the efficiency of solar cells, according to computer simulations by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and in Hungary. The work was ...

Laser sets records for neutron yield, laser energy

(PhysOrg.com) -- The National Nuclear Security Administration's National Ignition Facility (NIF) has set world records for neutron yield and laser energy delivered from laser-driven capsules to an inertial confinement fusion ...

Confining light for use in nanophotonic devices

"There is a strong drive to make smaller and smaller devices," Hui Cao tells PhysOrg.com. "However, there are limitations to what we can do. We want faster devices than what we can get from electronics, so we are looking ...

Research reveals quantum entanglement among quarks

Collisions of high energy particles produce "jets" of quarks, anti-quarks, or gluons. Due to the phenomenon called confinement, scientists cannot directly detect quarks. Instead, the quarks from these collisions fragment ...

A dense quark liquid is distinct from a dense nucleon liquid

Atomic nuclei are made of nucleons (like protons and neutrons), which themselves are made of quarks. When crushed at high densities, nuclei dissolve into a liquid of nucleons and, at even higher densities, the nucleons themselves ...

Japanese experimental nuclear fusion reactor inaugurated

The world's biggest experimental nuclear fusion reactor in operation was inaugurated in Japan on Friday, a technology in its infancy but billed by some as the answer to humanity's future energy needs.

A precise X-ray thermometer for warm dense matter

Warm dense matter (WDM) measures thousands of degrees in temperature and is under the pressure of thousands of Earth's atmospheres. Found in many places throughout the universe, it is expected to have beneficial applications ...

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