Physics - spotlighting exceptional research

Challenging a hole to move through an ordered insulator

Mona Berciu — 2009-06-29T00:00:00-04:00

A theoretical framework to explain how a hole moves through an antiferromagnetically and orbitally ordered lattice could also provide insight into the interplay between these two ordered phases.

[Physics 2, 55] Published Mon Jun 29, 2009

Quasiparticle doppelgängers

Matthew Grayson — 2009-06-29T00:00:00-04:00

By exploiting the concept of particle-hole duality, one can realize a point junction between integer and fractional quantum Hall phases, which constitutes a crucial building block towards possible applications of the quantum Hall effect.

[Physics 2, 56] Published Mon Jun 29, 2009

What it takes to be a team player

2009-06-29T00:00:00-04:00

A comparison between two social groups—urban gangs and the virtual “guilds” found in online role-playing games—suggests that they tend to follow similar patterns in how they form.

Published Mon Jun 29, 2009

Spinning out plastics

2009-06-29T00:00:00-04:00

The rapid evaporation of solvent during spin casting—a technique widely used in the manufacture of plastic parts—may prevent polymer films from reaching equilibrium.

Published Mon Jun 29, 2009

The demon is in the details

2009-06-29T00:00:00-04:00

In the theory of statistical information processing, what is the minimum amount of energy needed to make a measurement and then erase its memory?

Published Mon Jun 29, 2009

Premature call on cosmic-ray anomalies?

2009-06-26T00:00:00-04:00

A Viewpoint commentary discussing recent results from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Telescope on cosmic rays from dark matter may have dismissed an unusual spectral feature too soon; the authors respond.

Published Fri Jun 26, 2009

A force by any other name…

2009-06-25T00:00:00-04:00

Misconceptions about “force” and “motion” are often rooted in everyday experiences. Understanding this link may help teachers better communicate with physics students.

Published Thu Jun 25, 2009

Distinguishing between molecules that look the same

Thomas Weinacht — 2009-06-22T00:00:00-04:00

Different molecules with nearly identical absorption spectra can be distinguished with the help of shaped laser pulses and adaptive algorithms.

[Physics 2, 51] Published Mon Jun 22, 2009

Super resolution with superposition

Petr M. Anisimov, Jonathan P. Dowling — 2009-06-22T00:00:00-04:00

A proposal for obtaining optical resolution better than the classical limit by means of spatially entangled quantum states of light opens a new frontier in the fields of quantum optical imaging, metrology, and sensing.

[Physics 2, 52] Published Mon Jun 22, 2009

More illusory than invisible

2009-06-22T00:00:00-04:00

Bent light can do more than render objects invisible—it can make them appear as something else.

Published Mon Jun 22, 2009

Optical echoes cut through the noise

2009-06-22T00:00:00-04:00

The demonstration of all-optical spin-echo measurements may provide a route toward decoupling spins from noise sources.

Published Mon Jun 22, 2009

Fractional charges fly between planes

Fiona J. Burnell, Shivaji L. Sondhi — 2009-06-15T00:00:00-04:00

The fractional quantum Hall effect, thought to be special to two dimensions, may also flourish in three, providing a possible explanation for anomalies observed in certain 3D materials in high magnetic fields.

[Physics 2, 49] Published Mon Jun 15, 2009

Spintronics without magnetism

David Awschalom, Nitin Samarth — 2009-06-15T00:00:00-04:00

The spin-orbit effect is at the heart of efforts to merge spintronics—where information is carried and stored by spin, rather than by charge—with semiconductor technology.

[Physics 2, 50] Published Mon Jun 15, 2009

Height matters

2009-06-15T00:00:00-04:00

Calculations suggest that the height of the pnictogen atom in iron-based pnictide superconductors determines the symmetry of the superconducting gap.

Published Mon Jun 15, 2009

Protein diffusion

2009-06-15T00:00:00-04:00

The shapes of “binding proteins” contribute to the ease with which they can diffuse along DNA until they reach a specific sequence.

Published Mon Jun 15, 2009

Challenge to a dual

2009-06-15T00:00:00-04:00

The finding of a new duality theory could contribute to solving problems in quantum magnetism.

Published Mon Jun 15, 2009

Seeing without being seen

F. Javier García de Abajo — 2009-06-08T00:00:00-04:00

Materials with unusual optical properties may allow the construction of sensors surrounded by a cloaking shell that makes the detectors undetectable.

[Physics 2, 47] Published Mon Jun 08, 2009

Swimming in the Fermi sea

Frédéric Chevy — 2009-06-08T00:00:00-04:00

The fermionic analog of a solid-state polaron (an electron surrounded by a cloud of phonons) has been created by dropping a spin-down atom into a Fermi sea of spin-up ultracold atoms.

[Physics 2, 48] Published Mon Jun 08, 2009

Inside and out of lasers

2009-06-08T00:00:00-04:00

Is the intracavity field of a laser necessarily a coherent state?

Published Mon Jun 08, 2009

A resource state for one-way quantum computation

2009-06-08T00:00:00-04:00

A system familiar in condensed matter—particles on a hexagonal lattice—could be a useful initial state for a one-way quantum computer.

Published Mon Jun 08, 2009

How to make CuO sit up straight

2009-06-08T00:00:00-04:00

CuO in thin-film form could be a prototype material for exploring magnetism that is similar to what is found in high-temperature superconductors.

Published Mon Jun 08, 2009

A cooler way to operate atomic clocks

Jürgen Appel — 2009-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

Dispersive probing of an atomic transition decreases the “dead time” of optical atomic clocks, potentially enabling more stable time reference standards.

[Physics 2, 45] Published Mon Jun 01, 2009

Shining light on iron pnictides with Raman scattering

Miles V. Klein — 2009-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

Calculations of the Raman response for iron pnictide superconductors reveal a collective mode that may be crucial to unravel the pairing symmetry.

[Physics 2, 46] Published Mon Jun 01, 2009

Superconductivity in germanium

2009-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

Following diamond and silicon, germanium is the third elemental semiconductor to host superconductivity at ambient pressure.

Published Mon Jun 01, 2009

Signs of a critical point

2009-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

Phase separation could be an experimentally observable signature of the predicted critical point in dense quark matter.

Published Mon Jun 01, 2009

Fluctuations in open systems

Felix Ritort — 2009-05-26T00:00:00-04:00

Small nonequilibrium systems behave quite unexpectedly when in contact with a thermal reservoir. However, all of them—from molecular machines to molecular magnets—are described by a single fluctuation theorem.

[Physics 2, 43] Published Tue May 26, 2009

Observing unification on a grand scale

Aaron Pierce — 2009-05-26T00:00:00-04:00

New connections have been made between experimental astrophysical signatures and theories that unify the electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces, called grand unified theories.

[Physics 2, 44] Published Tue May 26, 2009

Looking under the Antarctic ice for evidence of dark matter

2009-05-26T00:00:00-04:00

Detectors buried beneath the Antarctic ice place stringent limits on the presence of dark matter particles, called neutralinos, in the sun.

Published Tue May 26, 2009

Making room for holes

2009-05-26T00:00:00-04:00

The ability to hole-dope Bi₂Se₃ is an important step toward exploring the thermoelectric properties of this material.

Published Tue May 26, 2009

The ripple effect?

2009-05-26T00:00:00-04:00

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy establishes the dominant mechanism of electron scattering when graphene is placed on a substrate.

Published Tue May 26, 2009