Search

New techniques provide insights on the mechanism underlying high-Tc superconductors whether they are related to strongly interacting parents and the pseudogap neighbors.

An experiment to measure spin polarization induced by a rotating magnetic field in the direction of the rotation axis is presented. The mechanism of the induced static polarization in the liquid case is found to resemble the Barnett effect, the spontaneous magnetization of a ferromagnetic or paramagnetic body when spun in its axis.

This article examines the claim of researchers about the deuterium-deuterium fusion in the bubbles of deuterated acetone, suggesting that the shock wave produced during the implosion of the bubbles forced the deuterons together. However, the critics opine that there has not been enough experimental evidence to prove the 'bubble fusion'.

Issues are presented concerning the confinement of sole atoms inside optical cavities which have an average of one photon within them. The trapping of atoms by photons is discussed.

Seismic activities caused by wave velocity anomalies have provided evidence that the Earths crust has a tendency to descend to the lower mantle level. Alternative proof involving element incompatibility with in the mantle has also confirmed such assumptions.

Some scientists have begun to perceive superconductive ladder compounds as one dimensional chains of copper and oxygen atoms in an effort to enhance their understanding of superconductivity. Although plausible, such a concept has yet to find widespread acceptance within the scientific community.

Phase-sensitive experiments continue to be conducted to understand the mechanics of the wavefunction in high-temperature superconductors. Most of the experiments have been done on yttrium barium copper oxide.

Outstanding high school physics students from 41 countries converged in Williamsburg, VA last July 1993 to take part in the 24th International Physics Olympiad. The students competed in both theoretical and experimental rounds.

No evidence has been found to account for the superconductivity in copper materials. However, most researchers believe that this phenomenon results from the anisotropic pairing of electrons with opposite spins. Theories on d-wave coupling have also been forwarded to explain the mechanism.

Scientists monitoring the COBE have observed temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background. These explain the Big Bang aftermath theory on primordial density perturbations and supports the standard inflationary model of cosmology.

Stored chemical and nuclear processing wastes pose a threat to the environment. At the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the Pacific Northwest Laboratory studies clean-up technology, such as 'in situ vitrification' and bioremediation, to dispose of radioactive wastes accumulated at the site.

Research and development efforts for x-ray lithography are concentrating on adapting electron synchrotron machines for use as x-ray sources for the next generation of ultralarge-scale integrated circuits.

Wolfgang Ketterle and team reported a hallmark of superfluidity in an ultracold fermionic gas as it could be used to conduct experiments in highly controlled way and shed light on the bahavior of any strongly interacting particles. The Fermi gas superfluid is interesting as no other system has high temperature, below which superfluidity sets in, relative to the Fermi temperature.

This article documents two-proton decays of iron-45 in the form of decay-energy spectrum. Data reveal a two-proton decay energy level peak of 1 MeV. Research suggests that the two protons emitted by iron-45 may lead to the understanding of how the protons are paired within the nucleus.

This article discusses the veracity of the presence of sodium atoms in the planetary atmosphere of HD 209458, a solar planet orbiting a star and weighing about the mass of the Sun and its orbit being only 1/25 of Earth. The sodium atom presence is inferred from the data obtained by the Hubble space Telescope's imaging spectrograph.

Recent advances in magnetism and superconductivity suggest that an applied magnetic field can reveal the interrelationships between the two as it can be tweaked to show the relative strengths of the superconducting and magnetic phases. Research points out that even at the highest critical temperature, T(sub)c, magnetic and superconducting phases compete.

Research describing the characteristics of C60 crystals or buckyballs is presented. In particular the fabrication of high temperature superconducting buckyball crystals is described.

Research describing magnetically confined plasmas is presented. In particular recent advances in overcoming limiting pressures to attain greater fusion power output are investigated.

Research into the two-layer system known as a Josephson junction or a ferromagnet is discussed.

Two scientific teams at Harvard University have been able to stop and store light pulses for several milliseconds before retransmitting them.

Proton rich nickel-48 is formed by using projectile fragmentation on nickel-58 ions. The half life of nickel-48 is determined and compared with that of calcium-48.

Researchers have developed a two-dimensional photonic bandgap laser with a photonic crystal microcavity produced by a defect in a hexagonal arrangement of holes. A laser based on a photonic crystal in which the gain medium is a solid-state organic material is also discussed.

Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has successfully produced the new element 118. The researchers based their experiment on the calculations of Robert Smolanczuk that certain reactions can generate isotopes of elements 116 through 119.

The 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Pople and Kohn. Pople is a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University while Kohn is a research professor of physics at the University of California. Their contributions paved the way for the emergence of quantum chemistry.

Two researchers from the MIT, Dale Fried and Tom Killian, have successfully formed a Bose-Einstein condensate using hydrogen atoms. Thomas Greytak and Daniel Kleppner, also from the MIT, pioneered the research in hydrogen gas in 1976 by developing an evaporative cooling method.

A researcher at the Harvard University has established a direct correlation between the string theory and quantum chromodynamics. According to the study, a duality between the string and gauge theories exists, when the latter maps onto a particular curved spacetime background of the other.

The Mantle Electromagnetic and Tomography (MELT) experiment was developed to collect both seismic waves and electromagnetic data on the ocean floor spanning the East Pacific Rise. Data on electric and magnetic fields gave insight on the electrical conductivity of the upper mantle.

Copper and oxygen atoms have been found to be capable of creating orderly arranged charged lines in a given plane when exposed to high-critical temperature levels. These magnetic stripes are actually caused by the series of spin and charge fluctuations that occur during the process.

Researchers at NIST have developed a clock whose accuracy meets the standards of the atomic-fountain horologe found in Paris and Boulder, Colorado. The clock was constructed by cooling and sealing mercury ions in order to minimize microwave fluctuations.

Berkeley scientists successfully demonstrated that the oscillation frequency of superfluid helium 3 across a microaperture array can be measured as a function of pressure. It is the pressure difference applied on a membrane, which produces the coherent vibrational signal.

Researchers at Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies have developed a semiconductor laser that is electrically tunable beyond a 6% range. The infrared laser is equipped with two quantum wells that make the laser of emitting photons with shorter wavelengths.

A Princeton Univ study of liquid-to-insulator transitions in a quantum Hall system yielded more questions on duality transformations relating the insulating and quantum Hall phases. One prevailing view of the experiment's result is the superuniversality in particle dynamics.

Electron transport through quantum has previously only been measured by the magnitude of current transmission. Now a team from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have found a way to measure the phase of electrons. The measurements produced some surprises, which theorists are trying to explain.

Instruments designed to measure the amount of hydroxyl (OH) radicals in the troposphere are finally providing accurate values after initial efforts in 1983-84 produced unfavorable results. Two of the measuring devices are based on the laser.

Researchers at Lucent Technologies assessed the validity of the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid theory. They measured tunneling conductance of electrons across the edges of fractional quantum Hall states and through barriers in one-dimensional wires.

Photoemission studies of underdoped superconductors above Tc show an energy gap in the excitation spectrum. In addition, specific heat, electrical resistivity, optical conductivity and spin susceptibility were observed to be temperature dependent. This indirectly confirms the formation of such a gap.

Researchers are competing to develop the first quantum-dot laser. Quantum-dot lasers confine the charge carriers in three dimensions. Lasing from the dots is expected to occur with high efficiency and at lower threshold current compared to quantum wells or quantum wires.

A gallium nitride diode laser capable of lasing at a wavelength of 417 nanometers is being developed at Nichia Chemical Industries in Japan. The device emits a blue-violet light and is being evaluated for optical storage applications.

Johns Hopkins University researchers have forwarded stronger evidence of the existence of the primordial gas helium using data from the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. The team searched for helium by looking at the spectrum of light traveling to Earth from a distant quasar.

Recent studies show that the radiative-transfer models used in simulating the Earth's climate do not give accurate values of cloud absorption rates. The findings indicate that the clouds' capacity to absorb shortwave radiation is much higher than the value predicted by the radiative-transfer models.

A photorefractive polymer material was developed by combining polyvinylcarbazole, trinitroflourenone, dimethylnitrophenylazo and ethylcarbazole. The new material is more efficient, has higher flexibility and cost-effective.

Physicists Bertram N. Brockhouse and Clifford G. Shull have been awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on neutron spectroscopy and neutron diffraction. Their work became the foundation for current research in neutron scattering that have found applications in the fields of biology, chemistry, engineering and materials physics.

Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) developers are requesting more funds from Congress. ANS is a $2.9 billion research reactor that provides five times more neutron flux than existing facilities and can support as many as 1,000 users annually.

Parts of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's laser fusion program have been declassified as part of its 'openness initiative.' Some results of its work on inertial confinement fusion are presented.