Browse Physics

David Wineland and Serge Haroche, who studied photons and atoms in new ways, have won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Cosmic rays may be used to capture images of damaged reactors at the Fukushima power plant in Japan.

New calculations of core-collapse supernovae show how bizarre nuclear structures—called pasta—develop in the dense core of a dying star.

Frictional forces between surfaces coated with charged polymers can be adjusted with external electric fields.

An improved equation for electrochemical cells accurately captures processes in desalination and generation of electricity from salt gradients in the ocean.

Producing quark-gluon matter from higher-energy nuclear collisions will give insight into its fluidlike properties.

A new optical experiment provides further proof that quantum mechanics is not hiding some classical framework beneath its veneer of context-dependent observations.

The first evidence of a superfluidlike state in solid helium came from 2004 experiments that, with improvements, now find no supersolidity.

Combining experiment and theory, two research teams uncover new connections between the shape and the rigidity of ellipsoidal shells.

Existing or planned electron accelerators may be able to see the breakdown of general relativity.

A proposed experiment could, over several years of operation, test the suspicion that the three known flavors of neutrinos sometimes transform into other, undetectable types.

Experiments show that normally transparent nanorods can absorb or reflect nearly 100% of light at a specific wavelength when the rods are arranged in a periodic two-dimensional array.

The quantum states of light emitted by quantum dots stand up to the rigors of frequency conversion.

Researchers have applied a combination of an electric field and mechanical strain to a system of quantum dots in order to correct for asymmetries that usually prevent these semiconductor nanostructures from emitting entangled photons.

In a step toward 3D movies, researchers have combined short laser pulses with electron diffraction methods to rapidly map the structure of a simple molecule in three dimensions.

Researchers demonstrate a scheme that allows counting up to 100 atoms in a given quantum state, which may enable high precision measurements with entangled states.

Ultrathin solar cells are cost efficient, but new theoretical tools are needed to understand how light interacts with cells thinner than its wavelength.

New calculations of hypothetical “black hole bombs” set an upper limit on the possible mass of the photon and on the existence of certain dark matter candidates.

Methods from statistical physics and graph theory help uncover the structure of human language.

With a simple ball and stick model, theorists explain how the two flagella on a swimming alga become synchronized.