Perhaps they’re just shy, but heavy atoms seem very embarrassed when most of their electrons are stripped off. In order to cover their nakedness as quickly as possible, they aggressively try to steal electrons from any source they encounter. Indeed, their electron-capture rates can be orders of magnitude higher than those of ordinary ions. As […]
Read article: Straight choices
Currently there are, at most, five centres operating in the front line of particle physics: CERN and DESY in Europe, Fermilab and Stanford in the US, and KEK in Japan. How many of these laboratories are still with us in a decade or two from now remains to be seen. The year 2020 might seem […]
Read article: Where did all the antimatter go?
Measurements of B mesons confirm that the Standard Model of particle physics cannot explain why the universe is made of matter rather than antimatter
Self-focusing occurs at high intensities in transparent media when the refractive index is proportional to the intensity. The change in refractive index causes the medium to act as a lens that focuses the laser – hence the name self-focusing. This lens is the ultimate adaptive-optics element as it responds instantly to the shape of the […]
Read article: Injection of spin for electronics
Nearly all electronic and optoelectronic devices are made of semiconductors and rely on the exact control of electric charges. Electrons, however, possess a well defined “spin” angular momentum, in addition to a well defined charge. Their spin is either +1/2 or -1/2: in other words an electron can rotate either clockwise or anticlockwise around its […]
The point at which a phase transition occurs is called the critical point and is dear to every physicist’s heart. The fascination with systems at the critical point stems from the fact that a small change in one parameter, such as temperature, can trigger spectacular changes in the other properties. Indeed, it is this discontinuity […]
Read article: Web server celebrates a decade of hits
Peter Gwynne looks at the huge impact of the Los Alamos pre-print server
Read article: Positive ions pull together
Under certain conditions, the Coulomb force can pull charges together
Quantum effects could improve the accuracy of positioning systems
Director of the German synchrotron lab takes the helm at the new UK facility
