Category Physics

Counter-rotating circularly polarized laser beams (red) are crossed in a gas target to generate angularly separated extreme ultraviolet (EUV) harmonics with right- and left-circular polarization (blue, purple, magenta). This method provides straightforward and robust control of the direction, polarization, and spectrum of the light, opening the door to investigating materials in ways that were never before possible. Credit: Image courtesy of Dan Hickstein and Steven Burrows, JILA

By crossing 2 counter-rotating ultrafast laser beams in a gas target, scientists controlled the direction and polarization of laser-like beams in the extreme UV and soft x-ray portions of the spectrum...

(Clockwise from left) Brookhaven Lab physicists Ivan Bozovic, Anthony Bollinger, and Jie Wu, and postdoctoral researcher Xi He are with the atomic layer-by-layer molecular beam epitaxy system used to synthesize more than 2,500 thin films of a copper-oxide compound called LSCO. The team studied LSCO to understand why it can become superconducting at a much higher temperature than the ultra-chilled temperatures required by conventional superconductors. Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory

Understanding this exotic behavior may pave the way for engineering materials that become superconducting at room temperature...

A slice of (white) lithium garnet electrolyte coated with a (black) lithium compound acting as the battery’s minus pole in the laboratory of the ETH researchers. Credit: ETH Zurich / Fabio Bergamin

A new lithium-ion battery made entirely of solid material has been developed by scientists. It has neither liquids nor gels. The battery is non-flammable, even at very high temperatures, giving it a safety advantage over conventional batteries. Mobile phones, laptops, e-bikes and electric cars are all powered by such batteries.

Conventional lithium-ion batteries are not without their dangers: mobile phone batteries have exploded several times in the past, resulting in injuries, and only 6 months ago an entire row of houses burned down in the old town of Steckborn on Lake Constance...

In her research published in The Royal Society Dr Vaccaro says T violation, or a violation of time reversal (T) symmetry, is forcing the universe and us in it, into the future. (Stock image) Credit: © Stillfx / Fotolia

A/Prof Dr Joan Vaccaro, of Griffith’s Centre for Quantum Dynamics, has solved an anomaly of conventional physics and shown that a mysterious effect called ‘T violation’ could be the origin of time evolution and conservation laws. “I begin by breaking the rules of physics, which is rather bold I have to admit, but I wanted to understand time better and conventional physics can’t do that,” Dr Vaccaro says.

“I do get conventional physics in the end though. This means that the rules I break are not fundamental. It also means that I can see why the universe has those rules...