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Novel Imaging Systems Designed at LANL Help Explore Superhot Plasmas

Since the world’s largest superconducting magnetic fusion experiment, the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, went online in December, innovative new imaging systems designed at Los Alamos National Laboratory are helping physicists peer into the roiling world of superhot plasmas as they test a promising alternative approach to harnessing fusion energy. The eventual result could be a plentiful source of clean and reliable power.

28 Jan 2016

Hannover Messe 2016: Festo Highlights New Concepts for Industrial Application of Superconductors

Festo is showcasing three new, exciting concepts for the industrial application of superconductor technology at the Hanover Messe 2016.

28 Jan 2016

First Ever Observations of Rotating Topologies of Electrical Polarization

The observation in a ferroelectric material of “polar vortices” that appear to be the electrical cousins of magnetic skyrmions holds intriguing possibilities for advanced electronic devices. These polar vortices, which were theoretically predicted more than a decade ago, could also “rewrite our basic understanding of ferroelectrics” according to the researchers who observed them.

28 Jan 2016

Using Cerium Helps Gain New Insights into Multiphase Properties of Materials

Recent synchrotron advances and the development of dynamic compression platforms have created the ability to investigate extreme states of matter on short timescales at X-ray beamlines using shockwaves generated by impact systems. That's how scientists learned that surface protrusions called "jets," formed after shockwaves passed through cerium metal, could provide insight into the yield stress of cerium in its post-shock state. Yield stress is the stress level at which a metal or other material ceases to behave elastically and, thus, becomes permanently damaged.

28 Jan 2016

Researchers Determine Causes for Impeded Current Flow

Computers and other electronic devices account for a substantial portion of worldwide energy use. With today’s technologies, it is not possible to reduce this energy consumption significantly any further; chips in the energy-saving electronics of the future will hence have to be made from novel materials. Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have now found important clues in the search for such materials.

28 Jan 2016

New VST Image Shows Unusually Clean Small Galaxy with Very Little Cosmic Dust

Many galaxies are chock-full of dust, while others have occasional dark streaks of opaque cosmic soot swirling in amongst their gas and stars. However, the subject of this new image, snapped with the OmegaCAM camera on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope in Chile, is unusual — the small galaxy, named IC 1613, is a veritable clean freak! IC 1613 contains very little cosmic dust, allowing astronomers to explore its contents with great clarity. This is not just a matter of appearances; the galaxy’s cleanliness is vital to our understanding of the Universe around us.

28 Jan 2016

Unique Device to Trap Microbubbles Using Optical and Acoustic Tweezers

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has worked with University College London (UCL) and the University of Oxford to develop an innovative system that can trap microbubbles. This enables scientists to study the bubbles' properties and develop safer, more effective medical products.

28 Jan 2016

Study Offers New Insight into Problem of Multiple Stellar Populations in Star Clusters

Among the most striking objects in the universe are the dense, glittering swarms of stars known as globular clusters. Astronomers had long thought globular clusters formed their millions of stars in bulk at around the same time, with each cluster's stars having very similar ages, much like twin brothers and sisters. Yet the recent discoveries of young stars within old globular clusters have scrambled this tidy picture.

28 Jan 2016

TU Wien Scientists Succeed in Calculating Bose-Einstein-Condensates

Quantum objects cannot be understood simply as the sum of their parts, making quantum calculations complicated.

28 Jan 2016

Scientists Suggest Novel Method to Probe the Beginning of Space and Time

In a new study, scientists from The University of Texas at Dallas and their colleagues suggest a novel way for probing the beginning of space and time, potentially revealing secrets about the conditions that gave rise to the universe.

27 Jan 2016