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PSI Swiss Light Source Generates Light with Properties Similar to SwissFEL X-Ray Laser

For many years, PSI researchers have been testing experimental methods that will provide insights into novel materials for electronic devices. Using a special trick to make the Swiss Light Source (SLS) at PSI generate light with similar properties to that of PSI's x-ray laser SwissFEL, the researchers were able to demonstrate that the experiments planned for SwissFEL are possible and they are now building an experimental station at SwissFEL.

19 Feb 2015

Quantum Cascade Laser-Based Frequency Comb Demonstrates Wide Spectral Coverage and High Power

Frequency combs are the rulers of light. By counting a wavelength's many oscillations, they measure distance and time with extraordinary precision and speed.

18 Feb 2015

Latest Planck Data Supports Mindboggling Expansion of the Universe During its First Moments

From its orbit 930,000 miles above Earth, the Planck space telescope spent more than four years detecting the oldest light in the universe, called the cosmic microwave background.

18 Feb 2015

Solar Telescope Combined with Laser Frequency Comb May Help Hunt Exoplanets

The hunt for Earth-like planets around distant stars could soon become a lot easier thanks to a technique developed by researchers in Germany. In a paper published today, 18 February, in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society's New Journal of Physics, the team of researchers have successfully demonstrated how a solar telescope can be combined with a piece of technology that has already taken the physics world by storm--the laser frequency comb (LFC).

18 Feb 2015

Recently Discovered Dim Star Could Have Passed Through the Solar System's Oort Cloud

A group of astronomers from the US, Europe, Chile and South Africa have determined that 70,000 years ago a recently discovered dim star is likely to have passed through the solar system's distant cloud of comets, the Oort Cloud. No other star is known to have ever approached our solar system this close - five times closer than the current closest star, Proxima Centauri.

18 Feb 2015

High Plume Could Pose a Hazard for Low-Orbit Missions to Mars

In March 2012 amateur astronomers in different corners of the world gathered images of a plume emerging at dawn on the edge of the disc of Mars. Even though spacecraft orbiting Mars have on numerous occasions observed thin cloud layers on the limb, the maximum altitude of these layers has never exceeded 100 km.

18 Feb 2015

Novel Approach to Trap Atoms and Ions with Light Receives ERC Consolidator Grant

Tobias Schätz, professor of atomic and quantum physics at the University of Freiburg, has been selected to receive a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for a novel approach: trapping atoms and ions with light.

18 Feb 2015

RIT Professor to Present at General Relativity at 100 Symposium

Rochester Institute of Technology professor Manuela Campanelli will help celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Jose, Calif., today.

17 Feb 2015

Quantum Experts to Share Their Insights on Quantum Research at the AAAS

A panel of quantum experts from three world-leading institutes will share their insights on quantum research, from its beginnings to its exciting future, in a moderated discussion at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

16 Feb 2015

Researchers Peel Apart Star-Forming Clouds in Sculptor Galaxy

Starburst galaxies transmute gas into new stars at a dizzying pace - up to 1,000 times faster than typical spiral galaxies like the Milky Way.

16 Feb 2015

SLAC Theoretical Physicist Honored with 2015 Wolf Prize in Physics

SLAC theoretical physicist and Stanford Professor Emeritus James D. “BJ” Bjorken has been awarded the 2015 Wolf Prize in Physics for his key role in elucidating the nature of the strong force and predicting what would happen if electrons were violently slammed into protons in the atomic nucleus.

16 Feb 2015