atoms

Conceptual diagram showing muonic atoms and quantum electrodynamic (QED) effects. Credit: RIKENAn international team of researchers, including members from the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU), has succeeded in a proof-of-principle experiment to verify strong-field quantum electrodynamics within exotic atoms, according to a recent study published in <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div…

Too Long; Didn't ReadThe Flux architecture echoes throughout modern React state managers. Atomic libraries fulfill the original vision of Flux better than Flux ever could by offering better scalability, autonomy, code splitting, cache management, code organization, and primitives for sharing state. Too Long; Didn't ReadThe Flux architecture echoes throughout modern React state managers. Atomic libraries fulfill the original vision of Flux better than Flux ever could by offering better scalability, autonomy, code…

WATER POLICY U.S. wetland protections curtailed In a decision that reduces federal protections for wetlands, the U.S. Supreme Court last week narrowed the definition of marshy areas covered by the Clean Water Act. A five-justice majority led by Justice Samuel Alito ruled the law applies only to wetlands that have a “continuous surface connection” to nearby regulated waters, rejecting an approach currently used by federal agencies that wetlands require only a…

Figure 1. Conceptual diagram showing muonic atoms and quantum electrodynamic (QED) effects. An international team of researchers has successfully conducted a proof-of-principle experiment to verify strong-field quantum electrodynamics with exotic atoms. The experiment involved the use of high-precision measurements of the energy spectrum of muonic characteristic X-rays emitted from muonic atoms using a state-of-the-art X-ray detector. Credit: RIKENResearchers have successfully conducted an experiment to verify…

Artist’s visualization of a laser striking atoms in an optical cavity. Scientists discovered a new phenomenon called “collectively induced transparency” (CIT) where groups of atoms cease to reflect light at certain frequencies. The team found this effect by confining ytterbium atoms in an optical cavity and exposing them to laser light. At certain frequencies, a transparency window emerged in which light bypassed the cavity unimpeded. Credit: Ella Maru StudioNewly Observed Effect Makes Atoms Transparent to Certain…

Scientists in South Korea have created what they call "the world’s smallest ball game," throwing individual atoms between two optical traps. The research could eventually make for more adaptable and dynamic quantum computers.The ability to use lasers to trap and manipulate individual atoms, particles and even live bacteria was a Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough. The radiation pressure of light can be strong enough to move or hold microscale objects, making for optical tweezers, traps and maybe even tractor beams.For the…

Steam rises from the cooling towers at the Vogtle plant.Photo: John Bazemore (AP)It’s official: One of the new towers at the Vogtle power plant has started splitting atoms. The step brings the troubled plant in Georgia, which is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, closer to providing an enormous amount of carbon-free power to the grid.Westinghouse, the designer and operator of the two pressurized water reactors, said in a press release Monday that Unit 3 of the Vogtle plant had started the nuclear…

Figure 1. (a) 3D TMC crystalline structure consisting of TMC nanofibers surrounded by single-atom rows of an intercalating element. (b) End on and side view of a single TMC nanofiber. Chalcogens are golden, transition metals are green, and the intercalating element is dark purple. Credit: Tokyo Metropolitan UniversityIntercalation of indium into nanostructures promises applications to nanocircuitry.Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have successfully threaded atoms of indium metal in between individual fibers…

The Ultracold Atoms Lab at the University of Toronto. Credit: Jo-Anne McArthurThis outcome represents an initial, small step in comprehending natural quantum systems and their potential for enhancing quantum simulations.“Suppose you knew everything there was to know about a water molecule — the chemical formula, the bond angle, etc.,” says Joseph Thywissen, a professor in the Department of Physics and a member of the Centre for Quantum Information & Quantum Control at the University of Toronto.“You might know…

Silently churning away at the heart of every atom in the Universe is a swirling wind of particles that physics yearns to understand.No probe, no microscope, and no X-ray machine can hope to make sense of the chaotic blur of quantum cogs whirring inside an atom, leaving physicists to theorize the best they can based on the debris of high-speed collisions inside particle colliders.Researchers now have a new tool that is already providing them with a small glimpse into the protons and neutrons that form the nuclei of atoms,…