Category Physics

A half-quantum vortex combines circular spin flow and circular mass flow, leading to the formation of vortex pairs that can be observed experimentally. Image: Ella Maru Studio.

Gained understanding in quantum physics may be a step towards quantum computers. Researchers in Aalto University, Finland, and P.L. Kapitza Institute in Moscow have discovered half-quantum vortices in superfluid helium. This vortex is a topological defect, exhibited in superfluids and superconductors, which carries a fixed amount of circulating current. ‘This discovery of half-quantum vortices culminates a long search for these objects originally predicted to exist in superfluid helium in 1976,’ says Samuli Autti, Doctoral Candidate at Aalto University in Finland.

‘In the future, our discovery will provide access to...

Research subjects at the University of Minnesota fitted with a specialized noninvasive brain cap were able to move the robotic arm just by imagining moving their own arms. Credit: University of Minnesota

Researchers have made a major breakthrough that allows people to control a robotic arm using only their minds. The research has the potential to help millions of people who are paralyzed or have neurodegenerative diseases. “This is the first time in the world that people can operate a robotic arm to reach and grasp objects in a complex 3D environment using only their thoughts without a brain implant,” said Bin He, University of Minnesota biomedical engineering professor. “Just by imagining moving their arms, they were able to move the robotic arm.”

The noninvasive technique, EEG based brai...

Like a surfer on a wave, a proton can be coupled with the vibrations of an atomic nucleus. Pictured in the role of proton is a bubble of air graphically pulled out from under the surface. Credit: IFJ PAN, jch

For surfers, it’s not enough just to wait for the right wave: they still have to know how to catch it. As it turns out, this also applies to protons. An experiment recently conducted by physicists from Poland, Italy and France provided new information on surfing taken to its absolute extreme: protons synchronizing their movement with vibrations of atomic nuclei.

A team measured, for the first time, the time needed for a single proton in a nucleus to synchronize with the oscillations of the nucleus...

The diamond in an anvil the scientists used to make nano-sized Lonsdaleite. Credit: Jamie Kidston, ANU

The Australian National University has led an international project to make a diamond that’s predicted to be harder than a jeweller’s diamond and useful for cutting through ultra-solid materials on mining sites. ANU A/Prof Jodie Bradby said her team and experts from RMIT, University of Sydney and United States — made nano-sized Lonsdaleite, a hexagonal diamond only found in nature at the site of meteorite impacts such as Canyon Diablo in the US.

“This new diamond is not going to be on any engagement rings. You’ll more likely find it on a mining site – but I still think that diamonds are a scientist’s best friend...