Category Physics

A laser stylus writes on a small array of multifunction pixels made by dual-function LEDs than can both emit and respond to light. Credit: Image courtesy of Moonsub Shim, University of Illinois

Cellphones and other devices could soon be controlled with touchless gestures and charge themselves using ambient light, thanks to new LED arrays that can both emit and detect light. Made of tiny nanorods arrayed in a thin film, the LEDs could enable new interactive functions and multitasking devices. “These LEDs are the beginning of enabling displays to do something completely different, moving well beyond just displaying information to be much more interactive devices,” said Prof. Moonsub Shim. “That can become the basis for new and interesting designs for a lot of electronics...

A still image from a computer simulation of an oscillon, a strong localized fluctuation of the inflaton field of the early universe. According to the calculations of Prof. Stefan Antusch and his team, oscillons produced a characteristic peak in the otherwise broad spectrum of gravitational waves. Credit: University of Basel, Department of Physics

For the 1st time, theoretical physicists from the University of Basel have calculated the signal of specific gravitational wave sources that emerged fractions of a second after the Big Bang. The source of the signal is a long-lost cosmological phenomenon called “oscillon...

A team of University of Colorado Boulder engineers has developed a scalable manufactured metamaterial — an engineered material with extraordinary properties not found in nature — to act as a kind of air conditioning system for structures. It has the ability to cool objects even under direct sunlight with zero energy and water consumption.

University of Colorado Boulder engineers have developed a scalable manufactured metamaterial to act as a kind of air conditioning system for structures. It has the ability to cool objects even under direct sunlight with zero energy and water consumption...

The spin of the blue atoms differs from that of the red atoms. The laser beam shown in red thus only holds the red atoms, while the blue ones can be transported by the differently polarized laser beam to any position. (Image: Carsten Robens/Uni Bonn)

Physicists at the University of Bonn have cleared a further hurdle on the path to creating quantum computers: in a recent study, they present a method with which they can very quickly and precisely sort large numbers of atoms. Imagine you are standing in a grocery store buying apple juice. Unfortunately, all of the crates are half empty because other customers have removed individual bottles at random. So you carefully fill your crate bottle by bottle...