Over the last 50 years, a number of techniques have been developed to analyse surfaces, near-surface layers and interfaces. Each technique has its own peculiar characteristics, and offers a different view of surface phenomena. Positron-annihilation spectroscopy has unique capabilities for detecting vacancy-like defects, ranging from individual missing atoms to micro-voids. Over the last 20 years, […]
If, in this season of bonfires and fireworks, you find yourself holding a sparkler, you might like to consider the remarkable chemical reaction that is taking place before your eyes. You are actually witnessing a self-propagating high-temperature synthesis reaction – one in which the energy generated by the reaction of magnesium and oxygen to form […]
Read article: A quantum leap for cosmology
One of the most challenging problems in modern physics is the application of quantum theory to the universe as a whole. Progress in this area has been plagued by two types of problem: conceptual and technical. The conceptual problems arise from the old difficulties of interpreting quantum theory. The standard interpretations require that the measuring […]
Read article: PhysicsWeb gets new look
Six years on, all that has changed. Now it is possible to watch the chair of the Nobel physics committee announce the winners live over the Web, and sites like PhysicsWeb – the Web site of Physics World – race to be first with the news. Last month was a particularly busy month for PhysicsWeb: […]
Read article: Physicists go for goal
Football scores have been tackled by statistical physics
Two new optical probes work on ultrashort and ultrafast scales
High-energy physicists lobby for powerful accelerator
4D version of 2D effect could give clue to quantum gravity
Read article: Leicester imports student hotshots
New scheme brings the brightest students to the UK
Simulations show that a tapered chain of beads could take the sting out of large impacts
