Physical Review Focus -

Squeezed into Darkness

Don Monroe — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:52:11 -0400

Researchers propose a new and less challenging way to "squeeze" light, strongly reducing quantum fluctuations to make a beam with unwavering intensity.

Image: Phys. Rev. Lett. (to be published)

Atomic Dance Drives Melting

Don Monroe — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:30:34 -0400

Computer simulations suggest that a perfect crystal spontaneously melts when atoms move cooperatively. The process may occur in melting under extreme conditions.

Image: X.M. Bai and M. Li/Georgia Tech.

Reflection of a Ghost

Michael Schirber — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:51:30 -0400

Ghost imaging, in which images are made using light that never came near the object, has now been demonstrated with reflected light, but the debate continues over whether the effect can be explained with classical physics.

Image: Phys. Rev. A 77, 041801 (2008)

Magnet Controls a Superconductor

David Lindley — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:29:45 -0400

Researchers used a magnetic material to create a difference in current-carrying properties between two perpendicular directions in a superconductor. They could easily change the directions with an external magnetic field, which could be useful in superconducting devices.

Image: Phys. Rev. B 77, 134518 (2008)

Self-forming Rings and Cages

Michael Schirber — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:19:31 -0400

Researchers have simulated the formation of complex shapes formed spontaneously by sheets of polymers in solution. The results provide a recipe for experimentalists that are studying these structures for drug delivery and nanofabrication.

Image:

Landmarks: Laser Cooling of Atoms

Jason Socrates Bardi — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:50:43 -0400

In the 1970s and 80s, researchers developed techniques for cooling atoms to very low temperatures using laser light. The work led to improvements in atomic clocks and the observation of a new ultracold state of matter.

Image: H. M. Helfer/NIST

Heavyweight Contender

David Lindley — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:20:04 -0400

A theoretical model shows that fission--nuclei breaking apart--may be an important part of the process by which supernovae produce the heaviest elements.

Image: Punchstock

Stopping and Freezing a Bullet

Michael Schirber — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:37:59 -0500

Researchers demonstrated an atom slowing and trapping scheme that may apply to elements that have been difficult or impossible to cool before. The atoms need only an unpaired electron, not a special set of internal states.

Image: M. Raizen/Univ. of Texas

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Weaker

Don Monroe — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:05:46 -0500

A century-old empirical law relates the number of times a material will survive a repeated stress to the size of the stress. A new model connects this law with steadily accumulating damage at the microscale.

Image: iStockphoto.com/samvaltenbergs

Electron Stroboscope

Calla Cofield — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:52:04 -0500

Researchers have extracted electrons from atoms in a controlled way using sub-femtosecond light pulses. They also imaged the electrons' quantum states with unprecedented clarity.

Image: Photos.com