Scientists at Stockholm University have discovered that water can exhibit a similar behavior to that of a liquid crystal when illuminated with laser light. This effect originates by the alignment of water molecules, which ...
Condensed Matter
Aug 11, 2020
0
1070
Free radicals—atoms and molecules with unpaired electrons—can wreak havoc on the body. They are like jilted paramours, destined to wander about in search of another electron, leaving broken cells, proteins and DNA in ...
General Physics
Aug 7, 2020
0
252
Ever since 1960, when Theodore Maiman built the world's first infrared laser, physicists dreamed of producing X-ray laser pulses that are capable of probing the ultrashort and ultrafast scales of atoms and molecules.
Optics & Photonics
Jul 2, 2020
0
28
One of the great advantages of X-ray free-electron lasers like the one at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is that they allow researchers to determine the structure of biological molecules in ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 16, 2020
0
56
If you heat a solid material enough, the thermal energy (latent heat) causes the material's molecules begin to break apart, forming a liquid. One of the most familiar examples of this phase transition from a well-ordered ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 2, 2020
1
41
A team of researchers from Denmark, Norway, Spain and Italy has found that both terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and ionospheric ultraviolet emissions are spurred by lightning. In their paper published in the journal Science, ...
Researchers at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have invented a way to observe the movements of electrons with powerful X-ray laser bursts just 280 attoseconds, or billionths of a billionth ...
Optics & Photonics
Dec 2, 2019
0
218
Researchers have used ultra-high-speed X-ray pulses to make a high-resolution "movie" of a molecule undergoing structural motions. The research, published in Nature Chemistry, reveals the dynamics of the processes in unprecedented ...
Materials Science
Jul 11, 2019
0
61
The three classic physical states—solid, liquid and gaseous—can be observed in any normal kitchen, for example when you bring an ice cube to the boil. But if you heat material even further, so that the atoms of a substance ...
Plasma Physics
Jun 5, 2019
0
991
Probing magnetic materials with extreme ultraviolet radiation allows to obtain a detailed microscopic picture of how magnetic systems interact with light—the fastest way to manipulate a magnetic material. A team of researchers ...
General Physics
Jun 3, 2019
0
226
