https://phys.org/physics-news/materials en-us The latest news on Physics, Materials, Science and Technology A research team led by the Paul Scherrer Institute has spectroscopically observed the fractionalization of electronic charge in an iron-based metallic ferromagnet. Experimental observation of the phenomenon is not only of fundamental importance. Since it appears in an alloy of common metals at accessible temperatures, it holds potential for future exploitation in electronic devices. The discovery is published in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-weird-electron-behavior-weirder-fractionalization.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:29:06 EST news628950541 A group of Tohoku University researchers has developed a theoretical model for a high-performance spin wave reservoir computing (RC) that utilizes spintronics technology. The breakthrough moves scientists closer to realizing energy-efficient, nanoscale computing with unparalleled computational power. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-giant-neuromorphic-devices-high-reservoir.html Condensed Matter Wed, 06 Mar 2024 10:07:33 EST news628942051 In the Japanese art of Kintsugi, an artist takes the broken shards of a bowl and fuses them back together with gold to make a final product more beautiful than the original. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-fusion-reaction-weaknesses-strengths.html Condensed Matter Plasma Physics Tue, 05 Mar 2024 10:28:49 EST news628856926 In work published in Physical Review Letters researchers at Osaka University's Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (SANKEN) used "the shortcuts to the adiabaticity (STA)" method to greatly speed-up the adiabatic evolution of spin qubits. The spin flip fidelity after pulse optimization can be as high as 97.8% in GaAs quantum dots. This work may be applicable to other adiabatic passage and may be useful for fast and high-fidelity quantum control. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-shortcut-success-fast-robust-quantum.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:06:03 EST news628851962 Robots and cameras of the future could be made of liquid crystals, thanks to a new discovery that significantly expands the potential of the chemicals already common in computer displays and digital watches. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-key-future-robots-liquid-crystals.html Condensed Matter Soft Matter Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:50:38 EST news628775434 Researchers in Imperial College London's Department of Materials have developed a new portable maser that can fit the size of a shoebox. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-maser-shoebox-portable-precision.html General Physics Condensed Matter Fri, 01 Mar 2024 11:55:15 EST news628516512 The thermal hall effect (THE) is a physical phenomenon characterized by tiny transverse temperature differences occurring in a material when a thermal current passes through it and a perpendicular magnetic field is applied to it. This effect has been observed in a growing number of insulators, yet its underlying physics remains poorly understood. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-evidence-phonon-chirality-impurity-antiferromagnetic.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Fri, 01 Mar 2024 07:20:01 EST news628499249 Playing a different soundtrack is, physically speaking, only a minute change of the vibration spectrum, yet its impact on a dance floor is dramatic. People long for this tiny trigger, and as a salsa changes to a tango completely different collective patterns emerge. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-music-cooperative-electronic-states-kagome.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Thu, 29 Feb 2024 10:31:03 EST news628425061 A research team from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the University of Salerno in Italy has discovered that thin films of elemental bismuth exhibit the so-called non-linear Hall effect, which could be applied in technologies for the controlled use of terahertz high-frequency signals on electronic chips. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-tunable-room-temperature-nonlinear-hall.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Wed, 28 Feb 2024 08:27:41 EST news628331257 Besides being "a girl's best friend," diamonds have broad industrial applications, such as in solid-state electronics. New technologies aim to produce high-purity synthetic crystals that become excellent semiconductors when doped with impurities as electron donors or acceptors of other elements. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-diamonds-chip-friend-orbit-effects.html Condensed Matter Tue, 27 Feb 2024 10:28:03 EST news628252081 The electronic devices we use on a day-to-day basis are powered by electrical currents. This is the case with our living room lights, washing machines, and televisions, to name but a few examples. Data processing in computers also relies on information provided by tiny charge carriers called electrons. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-merons-synthetic-antiferromagnets.html Condensed Matter Tue, 27 Feb 2024 10:02:50 EST news628250567 For years, niobium was considered an underperformer when it came to superconducting qubits. Now, scientists supported by Q-NEXT have found a way to engineer a high-performing niobium-based qubit and take advantage of niobium's superior qualities. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-resurrecting-niobium-quantum-science.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Mon, 26 Feb 2024 12:53:03 EST news628174381 AEgIS is one of several experiments at CERN's Antimatter Factory producing and studying antihydrogen atoms with the goal of testing with high precision whether antimatter and matter fall to Earth in the same way. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-paves-antimatter-laser-cooling-positronium.html General Physics Condensed Matter Thu, 22 Feb 2024 12:40:02 EST news627825598 In a novel experiment, physicists have observed long range quantum coherence effects due to Aharonov-Bohm interference in a topological insulator-based device. This finding opens up a new realm of possibilities for the future development of topological quantum physics and engineering. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-scientists-exotic-quantum-effect-topological.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Thu, 22 Feb 2024 08:44:06 EST news627813842 If the fractional quantum Hall regime were a series of highways, these highways would have either two or four lanes. The flow of the two-flux or four-flux composite fermions, like automobiles in this two- to four-flux composite fermion traffic scenario, naturally explains the more than 90 fractional quantum Hall states that form in a large variety of host materials. Physicists at Purdue University have recently discovered, though, that fractional quantum Hall regimes are not limited to two-flux or four-flux and have discovered the existence of a new type of emergent particle, which they are calling six-flux composite fermion. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-physicists-quantum-state-emergent-particles.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Wed, 21 Feb 2024 16:49:03 EST news627756541 An HZB physicist has developed a new method for the comprehensive characterization of semiconductors in a single measurement. The "Constant Light-Induced Magneto-Transport (CLIMAT)" is based on the Hall effect and allows the recording of 14 different parameters of transport properties of negative and positive charge carriers. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-parameters-instrument-optoelectronics.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Feb 2024 11:20:03 EST news627736801 Physicists at Paderborn University have used complex computer simulations to develop a new design for significantly more efficient solar cells than previously available. A thin layer of organic material, known as tetracene, is responsible for the increase in efficiency. The results have now been published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-physicists-solar-cell-efficiency.html Condensed Matter Tue, 20 Feb 2024 16:56:03 EST news627670561 Electronics are based on electrical charges being transported from one place to another. Electrons move, current flows, and signals are transmitted by applying an electrical voltage. However, there is also another way to manipulate electronic currents and signals: using the properties of the spin—the intrinsic magnetic moment of the electron. This is called "spintronics," and it has become an increasingly important field in contemporary electronic research. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-spintronics-magnetic-state-materials-surface.html Condensed Matter Tue, 20 Feb 2024 14:45:03 EST news627662701 Researchers from Oxford University's Department of Physics have made a breakthrough in creating and designing magnetic whirls in membranes that can be seamlessly integrated with silicon. These hurricane-like magnetic whirls, thought to move at incredible speeds of up to kilometers per second could be used as information carriers in a new generation of green and super-fast computing platforms. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-breakthrough-silicon-compatible-magnetic.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Tue, 20 Feb 2024 10:09:03 EST news627646141 The inside of underwater pipes and enclosed nuclear containers were inaccessible—until recently. Acoustics researchers in Penn State's College of Engineering have developed a way to convey energy and transmit communications through metal walls using ultrasound. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-acoustic-ultrasound-access-enclosed-metal.html Condensed Matter Fri, 16 Feb 2024 09:59:47 EST news627299981 California's Silicon Valley and Utah's Silicon Slopes are named for the element most associated with semiconductors, the backbone of the computer revolution. Anything computerized or electronic depends on semiconductors, a substance with properties that conduct electrical current under certain conditions. Traditional semiconductors are made from inorganic materials—like silicon—that require vast amounts of water and energy to produce. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-uncovering-physics-electrons-screen-killer.html Condensed Matter Soft Matter Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:43:05 EST news627223381 Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) is an incredibly useful technique for probing material samples—but current assumptions about the process ignore some of the key time-dependent effects it involves. So far, this has resulted in overly-simplified calculations, which have ultimately prevented the technique from reaching its full potential. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-full-potential-auger-electron-spectroscopy.html General Physics Condensed Matter Thu, 15 Feb 2024 10:52:03 EST news627216721 University of Oxford researchers have used a new technique to measure the movement of charged particles (ions) on the fastest ever timescale, revealing new insights into fundamental transport processes. These include the first demonstration that the flow of atoms or ions possesses a "memory." The study, "The persistence of memory in ionic conduction probed by nonlinear optics," has been published in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-technique-reveals-atoms.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Thu, 15 Feb 2024 10:31:04 EST news627215461 Ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism have long been known to scientists as two classes of magnetic order of materials. Back in 2019, researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) postulated a third class of magnetism, called altermagnetism. This altermagnetism has been the subject of heated debate among experts ever since, with some expressing doubts about its existence. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-altermagnetism-experimentally.html Condensed Matter Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:57:24 EST news627213438 There is now a new addition to the magnetic family: thanks to experiments at the Swiss Light Source SLS, researchers have proved the existence of altermagnetism. The experimental discovery of this new branch of magnetism is reported in Nature and signifies new fundamental physics, with major implications for spintronics. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-altermagnetism-magnetism-broad-implications-technology.html Condensed Matter Wed, 14 Feb 2024 11:00:01 EST news627129123 A new approach has allowed researchers at Aalto University to design a kind of metamaterial that has so far been beyond the reach of existing technologies. Unlike natural materials, metamaterials and metasurfaces can be tailored to have specific electromagnetic properties, which means scientists can create materials with features desirable for industrial applications. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-optical-metamaterial-true-glass.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:23:34 EST news627128612 Future quantum electronics will differ substantially from conventional electronics. Whereas memory in the latter is stored as binary digits, the former is stored as qubits, which can take many forms, such as entrapped electrons in nanostructures known as quantum dots. However, challenges in transmitting this information to anything further than the adjacent quantum dot have limited qubit design. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-foundational-problem-transmitting-quantum.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Tue, 13 Feb 2024 10:17:03 EST news627041821 In diamonds (and other semiconducting materials), defects are a quantum sensor's best friend. That's because defects, essentially a jostled arrangement of atoms, sometimes contain electrons with an angular momentum, or spin, that can store and process information. This "spin degree of freedom" can be harnessed for a range of purposes, such as sensing magnetic fields or making a quantum network. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-semiconductor-defects-boost-quantum-technology.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Mon, 12 Feb 2024 11:20:51 EST news626959248 Cornell quantum researchers have detected an elusive phase of matter, called the Bragg glass phase, using large volumes of X-ray data and a new machine learning data analysis tool. The discovery settles a long-standing question of whether this almost–but not quite–ordered state of Bragg glass can exist in real materials. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-physicists-elusive-bragg-glass-phase.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Fri, 09 Feb 2024 11:59:03 EST news626702342 The condensation of excitons with non-zero momentum can give rise to so-called charge density waves (CDW). This phenomenon can prompt the transition of materials into a fascinating new quantum phase, known as an excitonic insulator. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-evidence-atomically-thin-hafnium-telluride.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Fri, 09 Feb 2024 11:30:01 EST news626694928