Category Physics

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Are time crystals just a mathematical curiosity, or could they actually physically exist? Physicists have been debating this question since 2012, when Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek first proposed the idea of time crystals. He argued that these hypothetical objects can exhibit periodic motion, such as moving in a circular orbit, in their state of lowest energy, or their “ground state.” Theoretically, objects in their ground states don’t have enough energy to move at all. Even though time crystals couldn’t be used to generate useful energy (since disturbing them makes them stop moving), and don’t violate the second law of thermodynamics, they do violate a fundamental symmetry of the laws of physics.

However, now UCSB physicists and Microsoft Station Q, UCSB campus ha...

This three-dimensional representation of the outer surface (left) and the entire vascular system (right) of the branch-stem attachment of the dragon tree shows which tissues inside the plant are displaced in a loaded state (yellow) in comparison to an unloaded state (red). Credit: Image courtesy of Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

A team has laid the groundwork for designing technical fiber-reinforced lightweight ramifications modeled on branch-stem attachments. With the help of high-resolution MRI techniques, the scientists succeeded in observing how the tissue of a living dragon tree is displaced when subjected to a load...

Using photonic integrated circuit technology, researchers made a tiny, yet fast quantum random number generator. The small chip in the middle of the picture contains two of the random number generators, which together measure 6 by 2 millimeters. For comparison, the coin is 16.25 millimeters in diameter. Credit: Daniel Bartolome & Ona Bombí, ICFO

For the first time, engineers have developed a fast random number generator based on a quantum mechanical process that could deliver the world’s most secure encryption keys in a package tiny enough to use in a mobile device...

Aluminium plates which have only been sandblasted (in the background of the picture) cannot be glued successfully. The two glued plates separate again at the interface between glue and metal – this can be seen by the fact that there is no white glue residue visible on one of the two plates. The aluminium plates in the foreground of the picture were treated with the etching process “nanoscale-sculpturing” before being glued. These plates could also be separated. But the white glue particles left on both plates demonstrate that the bond between metal and glue is not broken, but rather the glue itself. Credit: Photo/Copyright: Julia Siekmann / Kiel University

Through this “nanoscale-sculpturing” process, metals such as aluminium, titanium, or zinc can permanently be joined with nearly a...