Browse Physics

Loading cold atoms into a hollow-core optical fiber enables all-optical switching with just several hundred photons.

A new algorithm allows for the extremely efficient calculation of thermally averaged quantities in one dimension, in conjunction with the density matrix renormalization group method. The key is the judicious selection of a few representative states.

Entanglement may not be the source of a quantum computer’s power. But if not, what is?

Faster does not mean more precise—a new view of how proteins diffuse and bind to a specific site on the DNA reassesses the role noise plays in the biochemical production line that creates biomolecules from genes.

New results from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, the most precise to date in the energy range $20\text{GeV}$ to $1\text{TeV}$, should help resolve whether cosmic rays composed of the lightest charged particles, i.e., electrons and positrons, come from dark matter or some other astrophysical source.

Transport measurements show evidence of a topologically nontrivial structure—a lattice of skyrmions—in intermetallic $\text{MnSi}$.

The observation of squeezed phonons by x-ray diffraction allows researchers to study the interactions between ultrafast lasers and matter in a whole new light.

In the weird world of quantum mechanics, looking at time flowing backwards allows us to look forward to precision measurements.

In a cooled and trapped cloud of ytterbium atoms, the transition from a superfluid to an insulating state has been observed, opening up new possibilities for precision measurements, optical clocks, and quantum computing.

Graphene, believed to be a semimetal so far, might actually be an insulator when suspended freely.

An old problem in solid-state physics is the difficulty of theory to account accurately for the heat capacity of solids close to their melting points. Ab initio calculations that can now better reconcile theory with experiment are poised to make such accurate predictions about new materials, it may not even be necessary to grow them.

Inelastic light scattering is used to study correlated phases of one-dimensional Bose gases. This spectroscopic technique can distinguish superfluid and insulating phases and allow identification of the transition from one to the other.

An ultracold atomic physics experiment reveals universal physics in a four-body system.

A quantum dot refrigerator that cools an electron gas close to $100\text{mK}$ may allow experimentalists to better probe electron-electron interactions in quantum confined systems.

Trapped cold atom gases mimic much of the behavior of electrons in a solid, but because the atoms are neutral, it is difficult to imitate the physics of electrons moving in a magnetic field. Now, experiments show that a suitable combination of lasers can create an artificial magnetic field for cold atoms.

The surprising prediction that currents can flow forever in small normal metal rings was confirmed almost twenty years ago. Highly precise new experiments find good agreement with theory that was not seen till now.

Stochastic resonance, in which a periodic signal applied to a nonlinear system can be amplified by adding noise, has been observed in a mechanical system and predicted to occur in a Bose-Einstein condensate.

Decoration experiments of the two-gap superconductor ${\text{MgB}}_2$ show evidence for long-range attraction between vortices in a superconducting mixed state, which is interpreted as coexisting type-I and type-II superconductivity.

Study of variations in the mass and interactions of quarks may reveal whether fundamental constants are governed by “environmental selection rules” that lead to complex universes capable of having observers.

An atomic physics experiment demonstrates a solution to an eighty-year-old quantum conundrum by mimicking in an atom the astronomical problem of a satellite moving in a sun-earth system.