Browse Physics

Experiment and theory combine to give a more complete picture of a fundamental problem in diffraction optics.

A novel measurement of the Casimir force may help settle a long-standing debate over how to deal with a certain type of vacuum fluctuation.

Focusing a beam of light on a slit reveals details of its polarization with surprising sensitivity.

The universal shape of necking liquids as they form drops has been measured experimentally.

Though often treated similarly, glass and jamming transitions are qualitatively different.

Particles on a surface can have a negative mobility when subject to an oscillating driving force.

Researchers have developed a new method of magnetic resonance imaging that can track the turbulent flow that swirls around moving bubbles.

Measurements of drag coefficients in helium at low temperatures can improve understanding of turbulence in both classical and quantum fluids.

A phenomenon called capillary fracturing determines how fluids drain into tightly packed porous granular media.

Theorists obtain a general theorem that predicts the number of Goldstone modes generated by spontaneous symmetry breaking in nonrelativistic systems.

The compressibility of a gas of repulsive fermions has been measured with a novel imaging technique.

A new baryon has been discovered by the CMS collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider.

Raman spectroscopy probes the effects on the electronic properties of double-layer graphene when the layers are counterrotated.

Singly ionized helium-6 is an ideal atom for testing the quantum mechanical response of electrons to a decaying nucleus.

An optomechanical system in which light and matter exchange roles promises new kinds of quantum states.

A random laser formed from shaken grains can be partially manipulated by varying the amount of shaking, according to new experiments.

Microscopic distribution of alloy constituents explains the puzzling magnetic anisotropy in (Ga,Mn)As films.

The gravitational version of the Aharonov-Bohm effect, where particles are affected by the gravitational potential in the absence of a force, could be demonstrated in a lab-scale experiment using ultracold atoms.

A scanning probe technique helps identify and characterize defects in a carbon nanotube.

To calculate the electronic properties of complex materials, researchers have developed an algorithm that harnesses the computing power of tens of thousands of processors.