Tag Archives: Materials Sciences

Mysterious type of static electricity has a hidden culprit

Find explains how volcanic ash plumes spark lightning and why dust in grain silos can explode Continue reading

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Local Disorder Impacts a Quantum Material’s Electronic States

Atom-level understanding of how the surface electronic properties of a magnetic semimetal can be tuned could guide its use in advanced technologies like spintronics and catalysis. Continue reading

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Thin-Film Coating Boosts X-Ray Instrument Performance

Researchers developed optimized coatings for diffraction gratings that use thin-film interference to double the light reaching the sample, capturing power otherwise lost to absorption. Continue reading

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Patterned Surface Sustains Ultrahigh Vacuum

The 3D-printed fitting could help to miniaturize cold-atom sensors by reducing the need for continuous pumping. Continue reading

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A Very Stable Mirror

A crystalline mirror coating significantly reduces fluctuations in the resonant frequency of an optical cavity. Continue reading

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X-Ray–Optical Technique Detects Subtle Signal

A high-sensitivity measurement reveals the asymmetric shifts of electrons along atomic bonds. Continue reading

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Spectroscopy Technique Reveals Nanoscale Acoustic Waves

Imaging using extreme ultraviolet scattering shows that optical pulses can generate surface excitations with spectra that were previously difficult to achieve. Continue reading

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Active Matter Gets Solid

Researchers have determined the mechanical properties of a tiny beam made of active particles, laying the groundwork for future micromachines. Continue reading

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Active Matter Breaks like an Amorphous Plastic

Shearing a dusty plasma with a laser shows how vibrational modes lead to weak points in an amorphous active system. Continue reading

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Magnetic Topological Insulators Have an Edgy Side

Edge currents are observed in a magnetic topological insulator even when conventional theory says that they should not. Continue reading

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