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Penn State Scientists Honored with 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

Doug Cowen, professor of physics and of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, and Gordana Tešiæ, a postdoctoral researcher in Cowen's group, are members of a team of scientists that has been recognized with the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. The award, which recognizes major insights into the deepest questions of the universe, includes a $3 million prize. This year's prize will be split among five separate teams that are being recognized “for the fundamental discovery of neutrino oscillations, revealing a new frontier beyond, and possibly far beyond, the standard model of particle physics," according to the award citation.

25 Nov 2015

Radially Polarized Laser Beam Can Track Speeding Particles

It might be easier to track tiny particles in the future – even when they hurtle along with the speed of a rifle bullet. This is thanks to researchers working with Christoph Marquardt and Gerd Leuchs at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, who have discovered that these particles can be tracked with a radially polarized laser beam. In radially polarized light, the oscillation planes of the light waves arrange themselves like the spokes of a wheel. When the researchers cause a particle to fly through such a laser beam, they are able to determine its position several billion times per second by measuring the polarization of the beam.

24 Nov 2015

Arkansas Physicist Co-Authors New Book on Einstein

Daniel Kennefick, associate professor of physics at the University of Arkansas and leading Albert Einstein scholar, has co-authored a new book on the scientist known as the “Father of Relativity.”

24 Nov 2015

Superconductivity in Thin MoS2 Films Withstand Strong Applied Magnetic Fields

Superconductivity is a fascinating quantum phenomenon in which electrons form pairs and flow with zero resistance. However, strong enough magnetic field can break electron pairs and destroy superconductivity. Surprisingly, experimental groups led by Prof. Ye and Prof. Zeitler in Groningen and Nijmegen found that superconductivity in thin films of MoS2 could withstand an applied magnetic field as strong as 37 Tesla.

24 Nov 2015

RUB Researchers Discover New Way of Accessing Interior of Transistors

An interdisciplinary team at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum has found a way of accessing the interior of transistors. The researchers have manipulated the electron gas contained within by applying resonators to generate rhythmic oscillation in the terahertz range inside. They shared their findings in the magazine “Scientific Reports”.

24 Nov 2015

Oxford Physicists Earn 2015 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics

Three members of Oxford Physics - Professor Justin Wark, Dr Sam Vinko, and Dr Orlando Ciricosta have shared in the 2015 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics. This award from the American Physical Society, established in 1981, recognises a particular recent outstanding achievement in plasma physics research, and is considered one of the premier prizes in the field. The award was presented to them this November at the annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, held in Savannah, Georgia.

23 Nov 2015

New Evidence to Support Development of Scalable, Secure High Rate Quantum Networks

Scientists at the University of York’s Centre for Quantum Technology have discovered new evidence to support the development of scalable and secure high rate quantum networks.

23 Nov 2015

Researchers Study Phenomenon of Magnetism Using Ultracold Atoms

Heidelberg physicists use ultracold atoms to imitate the behaviour of electrons in a solid

23 Nov 2015

Supercomputers Calculate Difference in Behavior of Subatomic Particles When Matter is Swapped out for Antimatter

An international team of physicists including theorists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has published the first calculation of direct "CP" symmetry violation--how the behavior of subatomic particles (in this case, the decay of kaons) differs when matter is swapped out for antimatter.

21 Nov 2015

Macroscopic Entanglement Generated at Room Temperature

Entanglement is one of the strangest phenomena predicted by quantum mechanics, the theory that underlies most of modern physics. It says that two particles can be so inextricably connected that the state of one particle can instantly influence the state of the other, no matter how far apart they are.

21 Nov 2015