Getting a look under the hood of topological insulators

Certain materials, like copper, conduct electricity very well. Other materials, like glass, do not. A certain kind of material, called a topological insulator, acts partially like one and partially like the other ― it ...

A laser for penetrating waves

The Landau-level laser is an exciting concept for an unusual radiation source. It could efficiently generate so-called terahertz waves, which can be used to penetrate materials, with possible applications in data transmission. ...

Corkscrew photons may leave behind a spontaneous twist

Everything radiates. Whether it's a car door, a pair of shoes or the cover of a book, anything hotter than absolute zero (i.e., pretty much everything) is constantly shedding radiation in the form of photons, the quantum ...

Light may magnetise non-magnetic metals, propose physicists

Physicists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, have devised a method to turn a non-magnetic metal into a magnet using laser light.

Alternating currents cause Jupiter's aurora

An international team of researchers has succeeded in measuring the current system responsible for Jupiter's aurora. Using data transmitted to Earth by NASA's Juno spacecraft, they showed that the direct currents were much ...

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