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.

A new model for DNA-covered nanoparticles predicts their stable crystal structures and may one day help in finding the optimal building blocks for self-assembling materials.

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

Single atoms deposited on an iron oxide surface provide a valuable model system for studying catalysis.

The oscillations of a carbon nanotube can strongly affect the spin of an electron trapped on the tube, and the tube can also be affected by the spin, according to theory.

Finding the optimal solution to filling a volume with spheres could be useful for modeling nanoparticles.

Short chains of iron atoms deposited on a metal surface could be used to transmit bits of magnetic information.

A careful reassessment of zinc oxide nanolasers finds that the electrons and holes in the material are not bound together as others have suggested.

White noise in a nanoscale junction tells us how nonelectronic factors affect conduction.

New calculations confront the notion that adding impurities to one-dimensional solids called Luttinger liquids necessarily makes them insulators.

Incoherent light from the sun or from an LED could cool a small object, according to two theory papers.

Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy experiments show how missing carbon atoms affect graphene’s electronic and magnetic properties.

Nanoscale planar materials such as graphene could be twisted to fabricate tubular objects.

Nanopatterned surfaces could, according to calculations, provide a way to sort tiny particles by size.

Silicon nanowire sensors offer a route to improving the sensitivity and spatial resolution of magnetic resonance force microscopy.

By tracking the tiny displacements of a nanoparticle trapped in an optical tweezer, scientists are able to detect the faintest of acoustic waves.

Transport properties at the edges of topological states of matter may be more readily observed in graphene compared to other 2D systems.

A feedback mechanism in an evaporating liquid produces a variety of complex yet controlled patterns.