Quantum dots breakthrough
Only two other methods have previously been used to manufacture quantum dots: electron beam lithography and epitaxy. Lithography is a top down approach in which the beam defines the dot pattern, where...
Scientists see electron orbits
In copper oxide each of the copper atoms is expected to bond with two oxygen atoms. According to some theories however, the copper atoms can covalently bond with each other. Such bonds – in whic...
Read article: Top Livermore physicist resigns
Top Livermore physicist resigns
Campbell left his position last Friday after a series of anonymous faxes was sent to officials at the Department of Energy (DOE) saying that he did not have a doctorate degree. Although Campbell finis...
Net tightens round the Higgs boson
Results presented at the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics in mid-July provide strong hints that the Higgs boson, one of the holy grails of particle physics, is lurking just ...
Econophysicists find a forum
The meeting gave the pioneers of “econophysics”, such as Jean-Phillippe Bouchard, János Kertész, Rosario Mantegna and Eugene Stanley, an official forum to present and debate thei...
Dropping atoms gives precise value of g
Atomic interferometers use lasers to place atoms into superpositions of different quantum states. These states acquire different phases as they move in a gravitational field, and this phase difference...
Heat can produce ultrasound
Currently most ultrasound devices convert an electrical signal directly into mechanical vibrations through the piezoelectric effect. But these devices only operate over a narrow frequency range and ha...
New angle for optical memories
The medium is made of nanocrystals of zinc sulphide doped with samarium. Although the nanocrystals are only 3 nanometres long, they clump together into larger particles to form a powder that can be us...
Plasma forms new forms of matter
Colloidal plasmas contain three different components – electrons, ions and charged microspheres. Although these unusual plasmas can be studied in the laboratory, researchers have only been able ...
Slow period upsets pulsar theories
Inside a pulsar the neutrons are thought to decay into protons and electrons, which are then accelerated by the pulsar’s powerful magnetic field. Since protons and electrons are charged particle...
