Physics

Compact laser-plasma accelerator can generate muons on demand for imaging

Compact laser-plasma accelerator can generate muons on demand for imaging

Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) detected and characterized directional muons. Credit: https://pxhere.com/es/photo/788784?utm_content=shareClip&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pxhere Muon beams can now be created in a device that is the length of a ruler. Researchers at Berkeley Lab presented a foot-long (30 cm) compact laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) that can generate and detect highly directional muon beams. It works by using intense […]

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Tracking daily commutes with mobile data uncovers urban and rural differences in disease spread

Tracking daily commutes with mobile data uncovers urban and rural differences in disease spread

Credit: Shernee Lau from Pexels For countless millions across the globe, commuting to work or school is an everyday routine. But during a pandemic, the practice can contribute enormously to the spread of infectious disease, a fact that many traditional metapopulation models often overlook because they are designed primarily for migration and treat people as

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Physics-informed AI excels at large-scale discovery of new materials

Physics-informed AI excels at large-scale discovery of new materials

Credit: KAIST One of the key steps in developing new materials is property identification, which has long relied on massive amounts of experimental data and expensive equipment, limiting research efficiency. A KAIST research team has introduced a new technique that combines physical laws, which govern deformation and interaction of materials and energy, with artificial intelligence.

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California physicist and Nobel laureate John Martinis won’t quit on quantum computers

California physicist and Nobel laureate John Martinis won’t quit on quantum computers

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A California physicist and Nobel laureate who laid the foundation for quantum computing isn’t done working. For the last 40 years, John Martinis has worked—mostly within California—to create the fastest computers ever built. “It’s kind of my professional dream to do this by the time I’m really too old to retire.

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Freely levitating rotor spins out ultraprecise sensors for classical and quantum physics

Freely levitating rotor spins out ultraprecise sensors for classical and quantum physics

A photograph of a black graphite disk floating above a stack of three, round magnets. Credit: Adrian Skov (OIST). With a clever design, researchers have solved eddy-current damping in macroscopic levitating systems, paving the way for a wide range of sensing technologies. Levitation has long been pursued by stage magicians and physicists alike. For audiences,

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World’s most sensitive table-top experiment sets new limits on very high-frequency gravitational waves

World’s most sensitive table-top experiment sets new limits on very high-frequency gravitational waves

The Gravity Exploration Team was able to achieve record-breaking levels of sensitivity with the Quantum Enhanced Space-Time measurement (QUEST) in just a three-hour experiment. Credit: Cardiff University The world’s most sensitive table-top interferometric system—a miniature version of miles-long gravitational-wave detectors like LIGO—has completed its first science run. The Quantum Enhanced Space-Time measurement (QUEST) experiment, based

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Tiny engine runs hotter than the sun to probe the frontiers of thermodynamics

Tiny engine runs hotter than the sun to probe the frontiers of thermodynamics

The silica particle interacts with the electric field and the few air particles in the vacuum. Credit: Millen Lab/King’s College London Scientists have created the world’s hottest engine running at temperatures hotter than those reached in the sun’s core. The team from King’s College London and collaborators believe their platform could provide an unparalleled understanding of

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Nanoscale X-ray imaging reveals bulk altermagnetism in MnTe

Nanoscale X-ray imaging reveals bulk altermagnetism in MnTe

Schematic of X-ray magnetic circular dichroic scanning transmission X-ray microscopy, with the experimental observation of altermagnetic domains and topological nanotextures in MnTe. Credit: CPfS MPG / C. Donnelly Magnetic materials have been known since ancient times and play an important role in modern society, where the net magnetic order offers routes to energy harvesting and

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Research shines light on ‘double-yielding’ behavior in soft materials

Research shines light on ‘double-yielding’ behavior in soft materials

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain For decades, scientists have observed, but been unable to explain, a phenomenon seen in some soft materials: When force is applied, these materials exhibit not one, but two spikes in energy dissipation, known as overshoots. Because overshoots are generally thought to indicate the point at which a material yields, or transitions

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