Browse Physics

New measurements show that the surface of a ferroelectric crystal can conduct electricity, even though the bulk material cannot.

Carbon nanotubes’ electrical resistance is changed when ‘buckyball’ cages of carbon atoms–with a single gadolinium atom in each–are placed inside the tubes.

The width of a clean fault line between two pure crystals can be measured to an accuracy of 1 picometer, 1/100 the width of an atom.

As the concentration of the polymer C198H398 increases, the rate at which it forms crystals slows to a standstill. All other materials crystallize faster as concentration increases.

The 2000 chemistry Nobel Prize recognized the discovery of conducting polymers, which made plastic electronics possible.

A new tabletop system produces pulses of neutrons less than a nanosecond long. They may be used to help develop better materials for fusion reactor walls.

Small clusters of tin atoms melt at temperatures higher than bulk tin–the reverse of what’s expected.

Superplastic metal alloys can be easily molded into strong, yet complex shapes for airplanes and cars. A new theory attempts to explain at the atomic level why such materials can stretch so easily.

Quasicrystals have local rotational symmetries but are not strictly periodic. A type of atomic motion that is unique to quasicrystals has now been imaged in action for the first time.

Researchers have stretched ‘ropes’ of carbon nanotubes to their breaking point–the most direct measurements to date of the stength of nanotubes.

A new technique applies magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to electrons, rather than nuclei, and gives maps of electron density and mobility in a special type of organic crystal.

Magnetically aligned liquid crystal molecules can act as molecular ‘sheep dogs,’ aligning organic molecules to form molecular films with unprecedented uniformity.

A drop of soapy molecules and water can form a rigid gel crystal that displays more facets than any crystal ever observed–a phenomenon called ‘the Devil’s staircase.’

By ‘writing’ and ‘erasing’ molecule-sized bits of a thin organic film, physicists have demonstrated its potential to become the next high-density storage medium.

An x-ray camera with a 3 picosecond ‘shutter speed’ provides the first direct view of the motion of atoms in a crystal as it melts.

A form of carbon made from fused spheres of 20 and 28 carbon atoms–relatives of the famous ‘buckyballs’–could be almost as hard as diamond.

Researchers have created the first synthetic polymer that crystallizes into a helical structure with twists along two different axes.

Researchers have made major progress in x-ray holography, a new technique for imaging atomic positions in solids in three dimensions.