Category Physics

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have uncovered a striking new behavior of the ‘strange metal’ state of high temperature superconductors. The discovery represents an important piece of the puzzle for understanding these materials, and the findings have been published in the journal Science.

Superconductivity, where an electric current is transported without any losses, holds enormous potential for green technologies. For example, if it could be made to work at high enough temperatures, it could allow for lossless transport of renewable energy over great distances. Investigating this phenomenon is the aim of the research field of high temperature superconductivity...

New study outlines biotechnology process to produce rocket fuel on red planet. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a concept that would make Martian rocket fuel, on Mars, that could be used to launch future astronauts back to Earth.

The bioproduction process would use three resources native to the red planet: carbon dioxide, sunlight, and frozen water. It would also include transporting two microbes to Mars. The first would be cyanobacteria (algae), which would take CO2 from the Martian atmosphere and use sunlight to create sugars...

A novel topological edge soliton developed for nonlinear photorefractive lattices enables robust light beams is promising for photonic technology. Diffraction is a natural property of light beams. It allows light to bend around obstacles. Because light serves as a carrier of information, some of the distorting effects of diffraction must be mitigated for many technological applications. Topological insulators, first unveiled in condensed matter physics, have attracted interest for over a decade. A photonic topological insulator can help ensure consistent propagation of a light beam along its edges...

They’re also cheaper, faster and fabricated with an inkjet printer.

Sure, you could attach two screens with a hinge and call a cell phone “foldable,” but what if you could roll it up and put it in your wallet? Or stretch it around your wrist to wear it as a watch?The next step in digital displays being developed at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis could make that a reality.

First, there were light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. Then, organic LEDs, or OLEDs. Now, researchers in the lab of Chuan Wang, assistant professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, have developed a new material that has the best of both technologies and a novel way to fabricate it — using an inkjet printer.

The research was publis...