Browse Physics

State-of-the-art x-ray scattering demonstrates sudden avalanche-like structural changes in cobalt.

A new x-ray scattering technique successfully probes the elastic properties of thin semiconductor films.

How a material’s structure affects the conduction of ultrahot electrons is being explored with one of the world’s most powerful lasers.

Combining a manganite electrode with a ferroelectric tunnel junction could show an impressive tunneling effect.

Structural changes in an alloy may lead to a clearer picture of glass transitions in liquid metals.

Properties of vibrations in a pillar in a 1400-year-old Sicilian cathedral correlate with those of very small, nearby earthquakes, suggesting new ways of monitoring the gradual damage that such quakes can inflict on old buildings.

The voltage created in inclined thin anisotropic films illuminated by laser light is significantly affected by a photovoltaic component.

A strontium-based metal oxide with radioactive technetium exhibits the highest antiferromagnetic ordering temperature in a material without a third-row transition metal.

A new form of x-ray spectroscopy uses total external reflection to reveal the chemical evolution of a surface into a bulk material.

Semiconductor alloys offer one way to improve the efficiency of solar cells.

X-ray diffraction reveals why some nanostructured metals are stronger than others.

Understanding the role of interface effects will be essential for designing thin-film ferroelectrics on semiconductors.

Controlling defects on graphene that trap migrating metal atoms may lead to superior device fabrication.

Contrary to what is normally assumed, the polarization of sufficiently thin ferroelectrics can switch continuously, rather than through the formation of domains.

A simple relation ties the hardness of inorganic glasses to the number of ways its structure is constrained from yielding to pressure.

A new model explores how the spacing between defects in materials is key to controlling their resistance to fracture.

Heavier molecular deuterium diffuses through a nanoporous molecular sieve faster than molecular hydrogen.

A quick and simple processing method ensures that the first layer of graphene grown on silicon carbide will perform as expected.

Controlled doping of nanotubes and graphene sheets is achieved through an ion implantation technique.

At high pressure, the simple metal sodium shows complex behavior, including directional transparency.