Liquid crystals bring robotics to the microscale

05 Oct 2022 Katherine Skipper

On the move: Time sequence showing a robot swimmer following a curved trajectory to the upper left. The motion occurs over 520 s and the period of the external field is changed at the locations indicated by the red dashed lines. The scale bar is 50 microns. (Courtesy: T Yao et al/Science Advances)

 

‘Speed limit’ on changes in non-equilibrium systems confirmed by new experiment

22 Feb 2022

New uncertainty: A relationship between time and dissipation rate has been established in the laboratory. (Courtesy: iStock Greyfebruary)

A “speed limit” on changes in non-equilibrium systems that was first predicted in 2020 has been confirmed by a new experiment done in China. By carefully controlling the electronic states of a single trapped ion, a team led by Mang Feng at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, showed that the rate at which entropy was created during electronic transitions was intrinsically linked to the speed at which the transition occurred. Their discovery could lead to a better understanding of systems as diverse as living organisms and quantum computers.

 

Six-qubit silicon quantum processor sets a record

19 Oct 2022

Six of the best: Image of the six-qubit quantum processor. The qubits are created at the sites labelled 1-6 by tuning the voltage on the red, blue and green wires. (Courtesy: QuTech)

A team of researchers in the Netherlands has placed a record number of silicon spin qubits on a chip. By combining an advanced modular software stack, efficient calibration routines and reliable device fabrication, the researchers showed that they could operate the new six-qubit chip with high fidelity, clearing the way for even larger qubit numbers in silicon-based devices.

 

Shorter courses of radiation therapy prove safe and effective

28 Oct 2022 Tami Freeman

Faster treatments: Delivering fewer, but higher, doses of radiation means less hospital visits, less time off work and reduced costs for cancer patients. (Courtesy: iStock/Mark Kostich)

Hypofractionated radiotherapy – in which higher doses of radiation are delivered over fewer treatment sessions – offers advantages for both patients and healthcare providers. Completing their treatment in fewer weeks means that patients require less trips to the hospital, less time off work, and reduced transportation and parking costs. For the hospitals, faster patient throughput can increase treatment capacity and reduce costs.

Ultrasound-induced gas bubbles reduce optical scattering

27 Oct 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Evaluating the imaging performance of US-OCM. (Courtesy: Jin Ho Chang)

Optical scattering is a real problem for biological imaging. By preventing light from being focused deeply into biological tissue, scattering effects limit imaging depths to around 100 microns, producing only blurred images beyond. A new technique called ultrasound-induced optical clearing microscopy could increase this distance by more than a factor of six, thanks to the somewhat counterintuitive step of inserting a layer of gaseous bubbles in the area being imaged. Adding this bubble layer ensures that the photons do not deviate as they propagate through the sample.

 

Polaritonic condensate reveals universal law in an out-of-equilibrium system

24 Oct 2022 Charly Leblanc

How it works: the wave in the foreground is an illustration of the phase of an out-of-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensate in a 1D cavity, which belongs to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class. In the background is an illustration of the Fabry-Perot cavity, composed of two distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs), with quantum wells (QWs) embedded inside. (Courtesy: Charly Leblanc)

 

Cataclysmic binary star has the shortest known orbital period

26 Oct 2022

Feeding frenzy: artist’s illustration of a cataclysmic variable with a white dwarf (right) feeding upon a Sun-like donor star. (Courtesy: M Weiss/Center for Astrophysics/Harvard & Smithsonian)

Astronomers have discovered a pair of stars that circle each other in just 51 minutes, which is the most rapid orbit ever seen in such a pairing. The system has been dubbed ZTF J1813+4251 and is an example of a cataclysmic variable  –  an arrangement consisting of a star in a tight orbit around a dead star called a white dwarf.

 

Proton’s puzzling electromagnetic structure is observed in new experiment

28 Oct 2022

Collision course: diagram showing the real photon (γ) that is produced when an electron scatters from a proton. (Courtesy Nikos Sparveris/Temple University)

New electron scattering data from the US suggest that the electromagnetic structure of the proton may differ from theoretical predictions – an observation that partially corroborates earlier measurements done in 2000. The explanation for the anomaly is unclear, but the researchers believe more insights may emerge as increasing computing power allows theoreticians to perform direct calculations of the interactions between the proton’s constituent quarks.

 

CERN slashes experiment time next year by 20% as energy costs bite

12 Oct 2022

Shutting down: Operations at the CERN particle-physics lab will be curtailed by 20% next year to save energy (courtesy: CERN)

The CERN particle-physics lab near Geneva will be reducing the planned operation of its accelerator complex by 20% next year. The lab says the cuts are a response to the energy supply and cost crisis gripping Europe and the rest of the world. CERN will also stop experiments this year at the end of November – two weeks earlier than initially planned.

 

Quantum sensor could reduce electric-vehicle battery weight by 10%

18 Sep 2022

Slimmed down The new quantum sensor could reduce battery weights by 10%. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Chesky)

A new quantum sensor can measure the energy stored in electric-vehicle batteries much more accurately than existing devices – according to its inventors Mutsuko Hatano at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and her colleagues in Japan. Their sensor uses nitrogen–vacancy (NV) centres in diamond and could lead to substantial improvements to the range and energy efficiency of electric vehicles.

 

Neural network verifies proton dose directly from PET detector data

20 Oct 2022

Accurate predictions Top row (left to right): dose distribution for a 110 MeV proton beam generated using the AI model; the true dose distribution; and the absolute difference between the two. Bottom row (left to right): positron profile generated using the AI model; the true simulated profile; and the absolute difference. (Courtesy: CC BY 4.0/Phys. Med. Biol. 10.1088/1361-6560/ac8af5)

To maximize the quality of proton therapy delivery, researchers are generating precise, rapid and optimized methods for in vivo dose monitoring and range verification in proton treatments. This is no easy feat.

 

Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger win the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physics

04 Oct 2022 Hamish Johnston

Winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physics: Alain Aspect, John F Clauser and Anton Zeilinger. (CC BY-SA Royal Society; CC BY-SA John Clauser; CC BY-SA Austrian Academy of Sciences)

Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger have won the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physics. The trio won “for their experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell’s inequalities and pioneering quantum information science”.

The prize will be presented in Stockholm in December and is worth 10 million kronor ($900,000). It will be shared equally between the winners.

 

Multiple mirrors magnify atom interferometry

20 Oct 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Various views of a 3D-printed object captured by a single camera. (Courtesy: Sanha Cheong/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

A new multiple-mirror imaging technique could greatly improve the performance of atom interferometers, making them more useful in applications ranging from dark matter detection to quality control in manufacturing. By capturing incoming light from many different angles, the new technique enables scientists to collect more light than is possible using conventional imaging set-ups, boosting the system’s sensitivity.

 

Artificial intelligence simplifies calculations of electronic properties

17 Oct 2022

On grid: a visualization of a mathematical apparatus used to describe electrons moving on a lattice. Each of the thousands of pixels represents a single interaction between two electrons. Machine learning has been used to reduce this visualization to just four pixels. (Courtesy: Domenico Di Sante/Flatiron Institute)

Using artificial intelligence, an international team of physicists has shown that the thousands of equations needed to model a complex system of interacting electrons can be reduced to just four. This was done by using machine learning to identify patterns previously hidden within the system of equations.

 

Magnetic-fluid experiment sheds light on astrophysical accretion discs

28 Sep 2022

Lab top accretion disc: Cutaway diagram of the experimental setup used by Wang and colleagues. The data shown in the left portion of the gap between cylinders illustrates the simulated shear profile of the fluid. (Courtesy: Y Wang et al/Physical Review Letters)

Researchers in the US have designed an experiment that attempts to simulate the complex dynamics of astrophysical accretion discs more closely than ever before.

 

Large piezomagnetism appears in an antiferromagnet

19 Oct 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Observing large piezomagnetism in the antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetal Mn3Sn at room temperature. (Courtesy: S Nakatsuji)

Researchers at the University of Tokyo in Japan, Cornell and Johns Hopkins Universities in the US and the University of Birmingham in the UK have observed large piezomagnetism in an antiferromagnetic material, manganese-tin (Mn3Sn). The finding could allow this material and others like it to be employed in next-generation computer memories.

 

Supercomputer simulations reveal how the Sun accelerates charged particles

06 Oct 2022

Hot stuff: solar flares are often associated with increased particle emissions from the Sun. (Courtesy: AdobeStock/kittiphat/180260458)

Researchers in the US have used supercomputers to gain insights into the origins of the solar wind. This is a flux of high-energy particles from the Sun that can damage satellites, threaten astronauts and even disrupt electrical and electronic systems on Earth.

 

Ocean on Saturn’s moon Enceladus could be rich in a key ingredient for life

11 Oct 2022

Blue moon Infrared views of Enceladus as seen by Cassini. (Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/LPG/CNRS/University of Nantes/Space Science Institute)

The subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus could be abundant in phosphorus – an element believed to be an essential ingredient for life. That is the conclusion of an international team of scientists who used a combination of simulation techniques to show that stable compounds of phosphorus are likely being released from moon’s seafloor. The predictions could help future missions to Saturn’s icy moons to better pinpoint any signatures of life.

 

Astronomers explain ‘baffling’ James Webb Space Telescope image of binary star

14 Oct 2022 Michael Banks

Cosmic fingerprint (courtesy: NASA/ESA/CSA/STSCI/JPL-CALTECH)

Astronomers have explained a “baffling” image that was taken earlier this year by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

The picture, taken in July, shows a distant binary star known as WR140 surrounded by concentric geometric ripples. The WR140 binary, located just over 5 000 light-years from Earth, is made up of a huge “Wolf-Rayet star” and an even bigger blue supergiant star, gravitationally bound in an eight-year orbit.

A Wolf-Rayet star is an O-type star that is at least 25 times more mass than the Sun and is nearing the end of its life where it will likely collapse to form a black hole.

 

DART mission successfully hits asteroid in first-of-its-kind test

12 Oct 2022 Michael Banks

Close-up The last complete image of asteroid moonlet Dimorphos as taken by the DRACO imager on NASA’s DART mission from about 12 kilometres from the asteroid and 2 seconds before impact. (Courtesy: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL)

Update 12/10/2022: NASA has confirmed that DART’s impact successfully altered the asteroid’s orbit by 32 minutes, shortening the 11 hour and 55-minute orbit to 11 hours and 23 minutes. This was some 25 times greater than the 73 seconds NASA had defined as a minimum successful orbit period change. “This result is one important step toward understanding the full effect of DART’s impact with its target asteroid” says Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at NASA headquarters in Washington.

 

Bright ‘nearby’ gamma-ray burst dazzles astronomers

14 Oct 2022

Circular vision: NASA's Swift X-Ray Telescope managed to capture the afterglow of GRB 221009A about an hour after it was first detected (Courtesy: NASA/Swift/A Beardmore (University of Leicester))

Several orbiting space telescopes scanning the skies for powerful cosmic explosions have spotted one of the brightest gamma-ray bursts ever detected. Initial evidence suggests that the blast of high-energy radiation occurred when an extremely massive star collapsed – a process that results in an immense flood of gamma-rays and X-rays. Astronomers have been racing to follow-up the discovery, with one researcher suggesting it will become the “best studied gamma-ray burst in history”.

 

Nanostructured diamond capsules hold fast under pressure

17 Oct 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Nanostructured diamond capsules (NDCs) with high-pressure argon nanodomains embedded in the matrix. (Courtesy: Charles Zeng)

High pressures dramatically change the properties of materials, sometimes producing physical and chemical characteristics with useful applications. The problem is that these desirable properties usually disappear once the materials leave the bulky vessels that make such high pressures possible. Now, however, researchers from the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR) in China and Stanford University in the US have succeeded in maintaining the properties of high-pressure materials outside such vessels by instead confining them in free-standing nanostructured capsules made from diamond.

 

Team of flying robots builds structures using 3D printing

09 Oct 2022

On the job: a BuilDrone (right) is shown 3D printing a structure during flight. A ScanDrone (left) is nearby to monitor the building process. (Courtesy: Imperial College London)

Teams of airborne 3D-printing drones could one day be used to complete construction projects in dangerous or hard-to-reach environments – thanks to new technologies developed by researchers led by Mirko Kovac at Imperial College London. The team was inspired by flying animals such as bees, which collaborate to build complex structures.

 

Micromasers make a promising platform for quantum batteries

12 Oct 2022 Naomi Solomons

All charged up: Atoms in a quantum superposition interact with an electromagnetic field inside a cavity (centre), charging the battery and leaving the atoms in a low-energy state. (Courtesy: V Shaghaghi et al. 2022 Quantum Sci. Technol. 7 04LT01).

Most batteries store energy through chemical processes. Quantum batteries, in contrast, store energy in highly excited states of quantum systems.