news 2022

The fine structure constant is one of the most important natural constants of all. At TU Wien, a remarkable way of measuring it has been found - it shows up as a rotation angle. One over 137 - this is one of the most important numbers in physics. It is the approximate value of the so-called fine structure constant - a physical quantity that is of outstanding importance in atomic and particle physics.

A team of German and Spanish researchers from Valencia, Münster, Augsburg, Berlin and Munich have succeeded in controlling individual light quanta to an extremely high degree of precision. In the "Nature Communications" journal, the researchers report how, by means of a soundwave, they switch individual photons on a chip back and forth between two outputs at gigahertz frequencies.

Numerical simulation representing the curvature of spacetime during the merger of the two black holes. When black holes collide in the universe, the clash shakes up space and time: the amount of energy released during the merger is so great that it causes space-time to oscillate, similar to waves on the surface of water.

Here's a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial. From research into how ions behave in fusion reactions, to a study on why some people develop scar tissue in their lungs following severe COVID-19 infection, here is some quick-read news from across the College. Fusion surprises Ions may behave differently in fusion reactions than previously expected, providing important insights for the future design of a laser-fusion energy source.

A new technique that accurately measures how atom-thin materials expand when heated could help engineers develop faster, more powerful electronic devices. Two-dimensional materials, which consist of just a single layer of atoms, can be packed together more densely than conventional materials, so they could be used to make transistors, solar cells, LEDs, and other devices that run faster and perform better.

Developed by University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers, a lightweight, ultra-shock-absorbing foam could vastly improve helmets designed to protect people from strong blows. The new material exhibits 18 times higher specific energy absorption than the foam currently used in U.S. military combat helmet liners, as well as having much greater strength and stiffness, which could allow it to provide improved impact protection.

In chemicals used in agriculture, as well as in pharmaceuticals and a variety of materials, pyridines are often found as so-called functional units which decisively determine the chemical properties of substances. Pyridines belong to the group of ring-shaped carbon-hydrogen (C'H) compounds ("heterocycles"), and they contain a nitrogen atom (N).

Key takeaways: UCLA astrophysicists are among the first scientists to use the James Webb Space Telescope to get a glimpse of the earliest galaxies in the universe. The studies reveal unprecedented detail about events that took place within the first billion years after the Big Bang. The UCLA projects were among a small number selected by NASA to test the capabilities of the Webb telescope.

What determines the durability of high-performance coatings for turbines or highly stressed tools? Surprising results from TU Wien show: It is not material fatigue. Extremely thin ceramic coatings can completely change the properties of technical components. Coatings are used, for example, to increase the resistance of metals to heat or corrosion.

A new study led by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ÜBerkeley Lab) has measured how long it takes for several kinds of exotic nuclei to decay. The paper, published today in Physical Review Letters , marks the first experimental result from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a DOE Office of Science user facility operated by Michigan State University.

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have discovered that ions behave differently in fusion reactions than previously expected, thus providing important insights for the future design of a laser­-fusion energy source. The findings are featured in a new paper in the Nov.

Scientists at EPFL and the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), the University Federico II, and CEINGE-Biotecnologie avanzate in Naples, Italy, have developed a new method to screen individual cells quickly and reliably without fluorescence labeling. Their work, published in the journal Nature Photonics, opens new avenues in early tumor diagnosis and drug development.

How can we navigate airliners or allow military vehicles to stay on course without GPS or satellite signals? This is a problem for which quantum inertial sensors offer a solution. Harnessing quantum technology, they can take ultrasensitive measurements of acceleration in three dimensions, and in any orientation.

Applied quantum mechanics in medicine Tracing the metabolism of tumor cells using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has not been feasible in routine clinical settings hitherto. Now, an interdisciplinary research team including the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is working to advance the development of a quantum-based hyperpolarizer so that it can be deployed in clinical applications.

A Simon Fraser University physicist led an international team of scientists in reconstructing the laws of gravity-to gain a better understanding of how they work in the larger universe. The study, published in Nature Astronomy and featured in The Conversation , explored whether modifying General Relativity could help resolve some of the open problems of cosmology.

Tiny hairs on cell walls, so-called -cilia-, can move in unison to pump fluid. Now there finally is a physical theory describing these hairs' movements. They are only very simple structures, but without them we could not survive: Countless tiny hairs (cilia) are found on the outer wall of some cells, for example in our lungs or in our brain.

Tiny hairs on our cell walls can move together and thus pump fluid. Now they have succeeded in developing a physical theory of these hairs' movements . They are just very simple structures, but without them we could not survive: Countless tiny hairs are found on the outer wall of some cells, for example in our lungs or even in our brain.

Researchers have created a laser system based on a network like a spider's web, which can be precisely controlled to produce different light colours. The system, invented by a team led by researchers at Imperial College London with partners in Italy and Switzerland, could be used in new sensing and computing applications.

With the use of a precision experiment developed at the University of Bern, an international research team has succeeded in significantly narrowing the scope for the existence of dark matter. The experiment was carried out at the European Research Neutron Source at the Institute Laue-Langevin in France, and makes an important contribution to the search for these particles, of which little remains known.

Heidelberg physicists demonstrate the coexistence of superfluids in ultracold atomic clouds Two superfluids can exist at the same time in ultracold atomic clouds. Until now, their coexistence could not be observed experimentally. Now, however, physicists from Heidelberg University have demonstrated such a magnetic quantum fluid - it is fluid in two ways - in an atomic gas.