Category Physics

This image of a magnet levitated over a high-temperature superconductor array shows rectangular TFMs (black) levitating a heavy ferromagnet (silver) above a container of liquid nitrogen. Credit: Weinstein/University of Houston

Uni of Houston physicists report finding major theoretical flaws in the generally accepted understanding of how a superconductor traps and holds a magnetic field. More than 50 years ago, C.P. Bean, a scientist at GE, developed a theoretical explanation known as the “Bean Model” or “Critical State Model.” The basic property of superconductors is they represent 0 “resistance” to electrical circuits. Superconductors consume 0 energy and can store it for a long period of time. Those that store magnetic energy ie “trapped field magnets” or TFMs – can behave like a magnet.

A High-Luminosity LHC coil similar to those incorporated into the successful magnet prototype shows the collaboration between CERN and the LHC Accelerator Research Program, LARP. Credit: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab

Engineers will incorporate more than 20 magnets similar to this model into the next iteration of the LHC, which will take the stage in 2026 and increase LHC’s luminosity by a factor of ten. That translates into a 10X increase in the data rate. “Building this magnet prototype was truly an international effort,” says Lucio Rossi, the head of the High-Luminosity (HighLumi) LHC project at CERN. “Half the magnetic coils inside the prototype were produced at CERN, and half at laboratories in the United States.”

During the original construction of the Large Hadron Collider, US Department of ...

Electrical characteristics of graphene-azobenzene hybrid materials.(a) Scheme of the two-terminal device. (b) Reversible current modulation as a response to the device irradiation with different wavelengths (cycles of UV and visible light). (c) Scheme of the hybrid graphene–azobenzene structure when exposed to cycles of UV and visible light. Credit: Image courtesy of Graphene Flagship

Imagine a world where you can tailor the properties of graphene to have the outcome you desire. By combining its unique properties with the precision of molecular chemistry, scientists from Graphene Flagship have taken the first steps towards doing just that...

Three-dimensional network structure of the highly porous and flexible material DUT-49 (DUT= Dresden University of Technology) which displays the NGA-effect. Credit: Image courtesy of Technische Universitaet Dresden

Prof. Dr. Stefan Kaskel et al have found a new phenomenon in the field of gas-solid interactions: the so-called Negative Gas Adsorption (NGA). Adsorption refers to the process by which molecules of a gas collect on the surface of a solid. Metal-organic frameworks are highly porous materials which are widely used for adsorptive applications such as in the reduction of pollutant emissions.

The scientists from Dresden, Berlin and France have now succeeded in demonstrating that these materials can dynamically change their structures...