Liquid crystals open new route to planar optical elements

Researchers at Osaka University developed a technology to control the light wavefront reflected from a cholesteric liquid crystal - a liquid crystal phase with a helical structure. Although known for their ability to Bragg-reflect ...

Light scattering on dust holds clues to habitability

We are all made of dust. Dust particles can be found everywhere in space. Disks of dust and debris swirl around and condense to form stars, planets and smaller objects like comets, asteroids and dwarf planets. But what can ...

Molecular shuttle speeds up hydrogen production

An LMU team affiliated with the Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM) has achieved a breakthrough in light-driven generation of hydrogen with semiconductor nanocrystals by using a novel molecular shuttle to enhance charge-carrier ...

Stopping molecules with a centrifuge

Does the electron possess an electric dipole moment? Will it be possible to achieve perfect control over chemical reactions between polyatomic molecules, or can one envisage quantum simulations and quantum computation with ...

JILA team develops 'spinning trap' to measure electron roundness

JILA researchers have developed a method of spinning electric and magnetic fields around trapped molecular ions to measure whether the ions' tiny electrons are truly round—research with major implications for future scientific ...

The science of spring flowers—how petals get their shape

Why do rose petals have rounded ends while their leaves are more pointed? In a new study published April 30 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, scientists from the John Innes Centre and University of East Anglia, UK, ...

page 3 from 4