Strike Up the Band (Structure)

2021-07-14T10:27:00-06:00
11/05
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Building a better computer
by Peter Dowben, Jocelyn Bosley

Scientists are working to develop electronic devices that store and process information by manipulating a property of electrons called spin—a research area aptly known as spintronics. The semiconductors we are developing will not only be faster and cheaper than those used in conventional devices, but will also have more functionality.

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Strike Up the Band (Structure)2021-07-14T10:27:00-06:00

Heat Flow and Quantum Oscillators

2021-07-14T10:28:06-06:00
11/05
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Good vibrations

Materials that are absolutely perfect—in other words, materials that contain no defect of any kind—are usually not very interesting. Imagine being married to a saint: you would quickly be bored out of your mind! Defects and impurities can considerably change many properties of materials in ways that allow a wide range of applications.

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Heat Flow and Quantum Oscillators2021-07-14T10:28:06-06:00

How to Turn a Metal Into an Insulator

2021-07-14T10:30:43-06:00
11/05
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Locking up electrons

Solids are generally divided into metals, which conduct electricity, and insulators, which do not. Some oxides straddle this boundary, however: a material's structure and properties suggest it should be a metal, but it sometimes behaves as an insulator. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara are digging into the mechanisms of this transformation and are aiming to harness it for use in novel electronic devices.

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How to Turn a Metal Into an Insulator2021-07-14T10:30:43-06:00

Gravity for photons

2021-07-14T10:33:51-06:00
11/05
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Slow reflection

Inside solids, the properties of photons can be altered in ways that create a kind of "artificial gravity" that affects light. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh tracked photons with a streak camera and found that whey they enter a solid-state structure, they act just like a ball being thrown in the air: they slow down as they move up, come to a momentary stop, and fall back the other way. Studying this "slow reflection" will allow us to manipulate light's behavior, including its speed and direction, with potential applications in telecommunications and quantum computing technologies.

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Gravity for photons2021-07-14T10:33:51-06:00

Hunting Quantum Tornadoes with X-rays

2021-07-14T10:34:47-06:00
11/05
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Superfluid helium droplets

In a unique state of matter called a superfluid, tiny "tornadoes" form that may play an important role in nanotechnology, superconductivity, and other applications. Just as tornadoes are invisible air currents that become visible when they suck debris into their cores, the quantum vortices in superfluids attract atoms that make the vortices visible. Quantum vortices are so small they can only be imaged using very short-wavelength x-rays, however.

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Hunting Quantum Tornadoes with X-rays2021-07-14T10:34:47-06:00

Spin cant? Spin CAN!

2021-07-14T10:46:48-06:00
01/25
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Magnets with a twist
by Aldo Raeliarijaona, Alexey Kovalev

In most magnetic materials, the magnetic moments of individual atoms are aligned parallel to one another and point in the same direction. In special structures called skyrmions and antiskyrmions, however, they are arranged in a spiraling pattern. Their stability and compact size makes skyrmions and antiskyrmions especially useful for encoding lots of data in a small space. But a few questions need to be answered before skyrmion-based technology can be used in your iPhone or other memory devices. First, why do these magnetic structures form in some materials and not others? How can we design a system where they will form? And how can we generate these structures on demand? Click to find out!

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Spin cant? Spin CAN!2021-07-14T10:46:48-06:00

New World Disorder

2021-07-14T10:49:50-06:00
04/26
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Electron movement in disordered nanowires

We tend to think of materials as either electrical conductors or insulators: some materials, like metals, have low electrical resistance and conduct electricity easily, while others, like wood or plastic, have high electrical resistance and do not readily conduct electricity. Strange experimental results, however, reveal large fluctuations in the electrical resistance of thin metallic nanowires when a magnetic field or charge difference is applied to them. Click to learn how a more nuanced understanding of electron behavior helps to explain these variations in electrical resistance that may revolutionize the tech industry!

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New World Disorder2021-07-14T10:49:50-06:00

The Turbulent Tangle of Quantum Vortices

2021-07-14T10:50:38-06:00
02/14
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Ultracold turbulence
by Daniel Lathrop, Daniel Serrano

You may know helium as the gas that can make balloons and blimps float. At the University of Maryland, scientists are using this element to study the exotic physics of quantum vortices: the tornadoes or bathtub-drain whirls of the quantum world. Knowing how quantum vortices work could help us better understand other turbulent events (like wind and ocean currents), as well as the complex physical behavior of superconductors and neutron stars.

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The Turbulent Tangle of Quantum Vortices2021-07-14T10:50:38-06:00

Superfluid helium and black holes

2021-07-14T10:53:26-06:00
09/05
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An entangled connection

At low temperatures, helium—the same substance that makes balloons float—becomes a special type of liquid known as a superfluid, which has zero viscosity. It's like the anti-molasses! The properties of superfluids are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. More specifically, the atoms in superfluid helium are “entangled” with each other, allowing them to share information and influence each other’s behavior in ways that are totally foreign to our everyday experience, and which Einstein famously described as "spooky action at a distance." Better still, scientists have recently discovered that the law controlling entanglement between different parts of a helium superfluid is the same as that governing the exotic behavior of black holes in outer space.

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Superfluid helium and black holes2021-07-14T10:53:26-06:00
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