Category Physics

The neutron spectrometer used in this study. Credit: EPFL/PSI

Many physical phenomena can be modeled with relatively simple math. But, in the quantum world there are a vast number of intriguing phenomena that emerge from the interactions of multiple particles – “many bodies” – which are notoriously difficult to model and simulate, even with powerful computers. Examples of quantum many body states with no classical analogue include superconductivity, superfluids, Bose-Einstein condensation,quark-gluon plasmas etc. As a result, many “quantum many-body” models remain theoretical, with little experimental backing...

When fed 3-D models of household items in bird’s-eye view (left), a new algorithm is able to guess what the objects are, and what their overall 3-D shapes should be. This image shows the guess in the center, and the actual 3-D model on the right. Credit: Courtesy of Ben Burchfiel

Robots need to guess what they’re seeing better, even when parts are hidden from view. Autonomous robots can inspect nuclear power plants, clean up oil spills in the ocean, accompany fighter planes into combat and explore the surface of Mars. Yet for all their talents, robots still can’t make a cup of tea. That’s because tasks such as turning the stove on, fetching the kettle and finding the milk and sugar require perceptual abilities that, for most machines, are still a fantasy.

Among them is the ability to make ...

A density functional theory calculation showed the magnetic properties of a fluorinated sample of hexagonal boron nitride. This version is ferromagnetic, determined by how the fluorine atoms (red) attach to the boron and nitrogen matrix.
Credit: Ajayan Group/Rice University

Researchers turn common insulator, 2D hexagonal boron nitride, h-BN (white graphene) into a magnetic semiconductor. A little fluorine turns an insulating ceramic known as white graphene into a wide-bandgap semiconductor with magnetic properties. Rice University scientists said that could make the unique material suitable for electronics in extreme environments...

A metal nanosponge is shown under the microscope.
Credit: Jordi Sort/UAB

To store information in conventional magnetic memories of electronic devices, the small magnetic domains work by pointing up or down according to the magnetic fields. To generate these fields it is necessary to produce electric currents, but these currents heat up materials and much energy is spent cooling them. Practically 40% of the electrical energy going into computers (or “Big Data” servers) dissipates as heat. In 2007, French scientists observed that when the magnetic materials are put into ultra-thin layers and voltage is applied, the amount of current and energy needed to point the magnetic domains was reduced by 4%. However, this slight reduction was not significant enough to be applied to devices.

A research ...