Category Physics

Just as the hypothetical Schroedinger’s Cat is alive and dead at the same time, molecules hit with a burst of laser light exist in two states at once – excited (top) and unexcited. This weird quantum property allowed scientists at SLAC to make a molecular movie of excited iodine atoms in unprecedented detail. Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists have known for a long time that an atom or molecule can also be in2 different states at once. Now researchers at the Stanford PULSE Institute and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have exploited this Schroedinger’s Cat behavior to create Xray movies of atomic motion with much more detail than ever before...

Based on initial cost analysis, the screen-printed films can realize thermoelectric devices at 2-3 cents per watt, an order of magnitude lower than current state-of-the-art commercial devices. Credit: Image courtesy of Boise State University

What if you could easily print a thin layer of material – for use anywhere – that would allow you to create flexible energy harvesters or coolers? That may soon be a reality. Thermoelectric conversion is a solid-state and environmentally friendly energy conversion technology with broad applications that include solid-state cooling, energy harvesting and waste heat recovery...

A group of physicists led by Wolfgang Tittel have successfully demonstrated teleportation of a photon, an elementary particle of light, over a straight-line distance of six kilometres. Credit: Riley Brandt, University of Calgary

Distance Record set for Teleporting a Photon over a Fiber Network. What if you could behave like the crew on the Starship Enterprise and teleport yourself home or anywhere else in the world? As a human, you’re probably not going to realize this any time soon; if you’re a photon, you might want to keep reading...

Pictures, similar to this, were taken of the object from all angles to encompass the entire object and create an accurate model. Many aspects had to be utilized to produce usable images such as baby powder to eliminate the shine on the metal and a ruler to use as a scale. Credit: Pamela Krewson Wertz

What if it were possible to quickly and inexpensively create a part simply by using a series of close-range digital images taken of the object? A method called has now been identified for its application in manufacturing. In this technique, digital images of an object that have been taken at various angles are used to create a point cloud – or a large collection of points used to create 3D representation of existing structures – from which a computer-aided design (CAD) file can be generated...