(Phys.org) —Liquid crystals are widely known for their use in LCD TVs, in which quickly changing electrical fields are used to control the molecular order of the liquid crystals. This in turn changes how light is transmitted ...
For "Star Wars" fans, the streaking stars seen from the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon as it jumps to hyperspace is a canonical image. But what would a pilot actually see if she could accelerate in an instant through the ...
Quantum Physics
Apr 26, 2022
3
549
On Oct. 5, 2020, the rapidly rotating corpse of a long-dead star about 30,000 light years from Earth changed speeds. In a cosmic instant, its spinning slowed. And a few days later, it abruptly started emitting radio waves.
Astronomy
Jan 27, 2023
27
496
The shimmering green, red and purple curtains of the northern and southern lights—the auroras—may be the best-known phenomena lighting up the nighttime sky, but the most mysterious are the mauve and white streaks called ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 9, 2023
0
1543
Researchers have solved a problem hindering development of highly sensitive optical devices made of a material called graphene, an advance that could bring applications from imaging and displays to sensors and high-speed ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 12, 2017
2
884
A team of scientists at UCL led by Peter Barker and Tania Monteiro (UCL Physics and Astronomy) has developed a new technology which could one day create quantum phenomena in objects far larger than any achieved so far. The ...
Quantum Physics
Mar 17, 2015
5
191
How do some neutron stars become the strongest magnets in the universe? A German-British team of astrophysicists has found a possible answer to the question of how magnetars form. They used large computer simulations to demonstrate ...
Astronomy
Oct 9, 2019
10
1368
Researchers in Germany and the U.S. have produced the first theoretical demonstration that the magnetic state of an atomically thin material, α-RuCl3, can be controlled solely by placing it into an optical cavity. Crucially, ...
Condensed Matter
Nov 3, 2023
1
950
Even as the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics has enshrined light emitting diodes (LEDs) as the single most significant and disruptive energy-efficient lighting solution of today, scientists around the world continue unabated to ...
Nanomaterials
Oct 14, 2014
14
0
MIT researchers have developed a new, ultrasensitive magnetic-field detector that is 1,000 times more energy-efficient than its predecessors. It could lead to miniaturized, battery-powered devices for medical and materials ...
General Physics
Apr 6, 2015
7
3621
