Condensed Matter

Nano-Champagne(October 16, 2008)
Electron micrographs of the iron oxide nanotubes.

Penrose Tilings(October 16, 2008)
Quasicrystal

NIST atom trap(October 16, 2008)
Trapped atoms make possible high-precision atomic clocks

Strongly-bound Ultracold Molecules(October 15, 2008)
For the first time tightly bound molecules in large numbers have been held at very low temperatures.

On Very Thing Ice(June 4, 2008)
Ice only a few nm thick has for the first time been imaged in the act of forming into a sheet

Atom Wave Cloaking(March 17, 2008)
A new scheme would make a region of space invisible to atom waves

World's Smalles Diamond Ring(March 13, 2008)
Australian scientists have made a diamond ring only 4 microns across

World's Smallest Diamond Ring(March 14, 2008)
Australian scientists have made a diamond ring only 5 microns across.

Atom Wave Cloaking(March 12, 2008)
A new scheme would make a region of space invisible to atom waves

Darkest Object(February 5, 2008)
A nanotube array is the darkest object ever made in the lab

Neutrinos and Non-proliferation(February 4, 2008)
Tiny neutrino detectors will let international inspectors monitor reactor output.

Acoustic Quantum Dots(September 7, 2007)
Acoustic waves in a Gas surface can be used to move electrons around a microchip

Light-Driven Electricity(August 21, 2007)
Laser light can be used to drive electricity.

Single Atom Spins(August 20, 2007)
The spin properties of single atoms can be measured.

Ferromagnetic Superconductor(August 3, 2007)
A new material is both superconducting and ferromagnetic under conditions of ordinary pressures and warmer temperatures than before.

All-Optical Magnetic Recording(June 25, 2007)
All-optical recording may speed up data encoding.

Polonium Structure(June 12, 2007)
A new theory explains why polonium possesses a simple cubic structure, the only element to do so.

The APS March Meeting of 1987 - The "Woodstock of Physics"(February 26, 2007)
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity

Nanotube Repair(February 7, 2007)
Scientists have now determined how carbon nanotubes can repair themselves so quickly

Guided Atom Laser(December 20, 2006)
An atom laser can now emit its atom waves sideways on a quasi-continuous basis.

X-Ray Rainbow(December 11, 2006)
For the first time an X-ray beam has been spread out into a rainbow of X-ray "colors"

Paser(September 12, 2006)
The first demonstration of the idea of particle acceleration by stimulated emission of radiation.

Optical Antenna(September 5, 2006)
A device, mounted right on the face of a commercial diode laser, allows 800-nanometer-wavelength light to resolve structures only 40 nanometer in size.

Metallic Water(August 30, 2006)
Under some conditions of high pressure and temperature, water is expected to act like a metal.

SASER(June 2, 2006)
New advances in producing an acoustic equivalent of lasers

Double Quantum Dot(April 11, 2006)
Sound waves can be used to send an electron from one quantum dot to another.

Atom Wire(February 27, 2006)
Wires only one atom wide and 150 atoms long can support a strange type of electricity.

Z Pinch Machine(February 27, 2006)
A new temperature record was set recently at the Sandia's Z machine.

Beetle Photonic Crystal(December 21, 2005)
The outer shell of the Hoplia coerulea beetle is a photonic crystal

Room Temp Liquid Sodium(May 5, 2005)
Sodium has the most extensive negative melting curve ever observed

Splitting Up Cooper Pairs(November 3, 2004)
Researchers have split up Cooper pairs in a copper wire and sent the two electrons down separate wires.

Light Emitting Transistor(December 30, 2003)
University of Illinois researchers have produced the world's first light emitting transistor (LET).

When Water and Alcohol Mix(October 14, 2003)
New x-ray studies show that water and methanol like to form organized, low-entropy clusters when they successfully mix.

Mottness(July 8, 2003)
Studying the ways in which cuprate materials become "Mott" insulators helps to understand how the same materials, in very different circumstances, can become good superconductors.

Atoms that Climb Uphill(June 26, 2003)
Contrary to contemporary thought regarding the behavior of atoms deposited on thin films, under some conditions atoms climb up large crystal protrusions.

Perfect Insulin Crystal(May 7, 2003)
The discovery of mechanisms responsible for perfect insulin crystals may lead to improved crystal growth for medicines, microelectronics, and chemistry.

Tuning Carbon Nanotubes(December 23, 2002)
An electrode scheme has been used to discover the resonant mechanical frequencies of carbon nanotubes.

Ferric Rings(November 26, 2002)
A new form of magnetic cooling has been discovered.

Legacy of the Laser Diode(October 4, 2002)
Physicists are celebrating the 40th birthday of the semiconductor or "diode" laser, the kind of laser that is now used in DVD players, compact disk players, barcode scanners and fiber optic communications.

Ballistic Magnetoresistance(June 26, 2002)
A new, potent form of magnetoresistance operates at room temperature.

Mapping a Pore Fractal(February 26, 2002)
A fractal geometry of the empty space inside a porous material has been mapped for the first time.

Two Fractal Dimensions(January 22, 2002)
An important growth process, diffusion-limited aggregation, is characterized by not one but two fractal dimensions.

Acoustic Lens(January 2, 2002)
Scientists in Spain are the first to use a "sonic crystal" to focus sound waves at audible frequencies.

Dendrimer Laser(December 21, 2001)
Dendrimer lasers, which use fluorescing dye molecules lodged at the center of immense, branching polymer molecules, are now so intense that the can operate without the need for building up laser emission with the use of end mirrors.

Diffracted X-Ray Tracking(December 7, 2001)
X-Ray Tracking is a method for monitoring the rotary motion of single DNA molecules with picometer accuracy

A Nuclear Lighthouse (July 19, 2001)
The Nuclear Lighthouse Effect provides a beacon of information about atoms.

Gamma Ray Hologram (27 February, 2001)
A new procedure allows atomic-scale real-space gamma-ray holograms to be formed.

Surface Plasmon Molecules (23 February, 2001)
New research provides a detailed explanation for a baffling effect in which much larger-than-expected amounts of light passed through a metal barrier with tiny openings just a fraction of the light's wavelength.

The Sharkskin Problem (20 February, 2001)
In efforts that can improve the quality of plastics, researchers have directly visualized how plastics can develop "sharkskin," a rough surface containing a repeated pattern of ridges.

Atomic Slide Puzzle (13 February, 2001)
The motion on a crystal surface arises from multiple interactions with rapidly moving vacancies (holes where atoms are missing from the lattice) leading to large displacements of atoms embedded in the surface, a phenomenon reminiscent of the translation of pieces in a slide puzzle toy.

Single Molecule STM Chemistry (September 22, 2000)
A new experiment tests how dust grains coalesced into planetesimals in the early solar system.

Pyramid Pixels (August 23, 2000)
Pyramid-shaped, organic pixels for displays can now be made without cumbersome mask technology.

Nonmolecular Nitrogen (August 23, 2000)
Molecular nitrogen can be squeezed until it dissociates into single atoms.

Crystal Growth Starts Flat (August 21, 2000)
Using an atomic-force microscope, researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville have produced the first sequence of molecular-scale images of the very earliest stages of crystal growth.

Superconducting Transistor (July 12, 2000)
An Oxford-Naples group has developed a superconducting device with transistor-like properties including large current amplification.

Metallic Deuterium (June 9, 2000)
Scientists at Livermore National Lab have the strongest evidence yet for metallic deuterium

Muon Precession used for mapping magnetism. (May 18, 2000)
Muon spins can be used to map magnetic fields inside superconductors.

Microlaser made of powder (May 18, 2000)
Smallest powder laser also operates at room temperature

Laser Produced Protons (April 28, 2000)
Laser beams can create beams of protons.

Maximally Random Jamming (March 3, 2000)
A new theory of how spheres can jam into a container

Snowballs in Hell (March 3, 2000)
High pressure allows water to stay solid at much higher temperatures.

Free Electron Laser at 93 nm (March 3, 2000)
DESY's free electron laser has produced light with a wavelength of only 93 nm.

Quantum Mirage (February 8, 2000)
Electron waves moving inside an elliptical "quantum corral" interact with a non-existent atom.

D-Wave SQUID (February 8, 2000)
The d-wave nature of high-temperature superconductivity has been directly exploited in designing a SQUID magnetometer for the first time.

Neutron Trap (January 10, 2000)
Neutrons have been confined in three dimensions, in a magnetic trap, for the first time.

Superconducting balls (December 27, 1999)
Superconducting particles can form themselves into a larger ball under the action of an electric field.

Cooperative Evaporation (December 7, 1999)
An array of micro-droplets evaporate in a coordinated way.

Subsea Electron Currents (November 17, 1999)
Currents of electrons deep within the "Fermi sea" inside a metal or semiconductor can be pumped without any direct net bias.

Zigzag Gold Chain (November 2, 1999)
New simulations suggest that very thin gold nanowires are actually zigzag shaped.

Nanotriodes (October 22, 1999)
Vacuum tube technology makes a comeback in the form of 10-nm-wide electron emitters used as a cathode in what can be called a vacuum ballistic electron transistor (VBET).

Sinusoidal Microstructures (October 8, 1999)
Tiny washboard structures on polymer films will be useful for producing diffraction gratings, detectors, and a variety of microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices.

Ribosome Image (September 30, 1999)
The largest molecular structure ever imaged with x-ray crystallography.

Needles Excavate Flat Transistors (August 9, 1999)
AFM probes can etch out planar transistors by tapping a layer of electrons buried beneath the surface.

Atomic Steering Committee (May 14, 1999)
Physicists have discovered what makes many surfaces so rough: a "steering committee" of atoms already on the surface.

Digital Friction (March 15, 1999)
A striking stepwise change in friction occurs when an atomic force microscope probe is scraped across a monolayer of strandlike molecules.

Pinpoint Laser Polymerization (March 15, 1999)
Highly focused laser light, absorbed two photons at a time, can be used to sculpt microstructures.

Chaotic Granular Mixing (March 10, 1999)
Chaotic mixing of granular materials at record speeds.

3D Photonic Crystal (February 4, 1999)
First 3D photonic crystal will be useful in optical integrated circuits.

Hydrogen Bonds Have Covalent Properties (January 13, 1999)
New experiments confirm for the first time that the hydrogen bonds that hold together groups of water molecules possess part of the identity of the bonds that exist within a water molecule.

The Critical Current of Superconductors (November 30, 1998)
The first microscopic images, in real space, of a superconductor near the precise moment at which it loses its ability to carry current without electrical resistance.

Collapse in Granular Material (November 20, 1998)
Agitated steel balls can be "cooled," after which then can form clusters and even collapse into a sort of granular "crystal."

Stressed-out disks (November 20, 1998)
Changes in the polarization of reflected light can reveal the stresses between interacting disks in a two-dimensional granular material.

Stacked LED's (October 30, 1998)
Stacked organic LEDs can now produce full color.

Turbulence in Soap Films (August 14, 1998)
False-color image of turbulence in a soap film.

Newton Rings (June 24, 1998)
Newton rings reveal laser ablation on a picosecond scale.

Smart Pixels (June 17, 1998)
Researchers have made "smart pixels" composed entirely of carbon-based materials.

Carbon Nanotube Transistor (May 13, 1998)
A transistor based on a single, nanometer-scale molecule composed of carbon atoms.

Flattened Carbon Nanotube (May 11, 1998)
This computer-drawn figure shows the view within a carbon nanotube flattened in order to form a flexible "nanoribbon."

Electron Waves in a Plane (May 11, 1998)
In this image, electron waves are seen to be breaking around two atom-sized defects.

Quantum Corral (May 11, 1998)
Image of a stadium-shaped "quantum corral" made by positioning iron atoms on a copper surface.

Boron-Nitride Nanotube (May 11, 1998)
A computer simulation of the view down a boron-nitride nanotube.

Quantum Tunneling Transistor (February 4, 1998)
A transistor that exploits an electron's ability to pass through normally insurmountable energy barriers.

Metallic and Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes (January 5, 1998)
A microscope determines whether nanoscopic tubes of carbon are metallic or semiconducting.

Superconducting Quantum Dots (December 1, 1997)
See an image of tiny aluminum superconducting disks, 0.1 to 2 millionths of a meter in size, sitting atop a semiconductor

A Reversible Metal-Insulator Film (October 20, 1997)
Chemical physicists have made the first solid material that switches between metal and insulator properties reversibly without changing its chemical makeup, and at room temperature and pressure.

Nanodiamonds (October 8, 1997)
Physicists have created nanometer-scale diamonds--without the usual requirement for subjecting carbon to high pressures--by squeezing onionlike structures of carbon with beams of ions.

Prospective Superfluid Molecular Hydrogen (October 7, 1997)
Physicists at the University of Illinois have predicted that a new type of superfluid is possible--one involving molecules of hydrogen rather than atoms of hydrogen.

Liquid Magnetic Froths (September 25, 1997)
Liquid magnetic froths create patterns that are reversible with magnetic fields.

Trapping Single Particles with Nanoelectrodes (August 26, 1997)
See images of single nanoparticles trapped between electrodes separated by just billionths of a meter

Amorphous Solid Water (July 17, 1997)
Amorphous Solid Water

New Evidence for D-wave Superconductivity (June 23, 1997)
IBM researchers have found evidence supporting a leading theory of high-temperature superconductivity known as the 'd-wave' model.

Cubane (June 17, 1997)
Cubane is a new molecule made of eight carbon atoms and eight hydrogen atoms.

Photon Conveyor Belt (May 13, 1997)
Animation depicting a technique for effectively transporting a single photon across a semiconductor material.

Electromigration in Aluminum Wires (April 2, 1997)
Using tiny x-ray beams, researchers have seen, in real time and at microscopic scales, how aluminum wires can get degraded by the flow of electric current.

A "One-Size-Fits-All" Surface for Semiconductors (March 31, 1997)
Researchers at Cornell have designed a 'universal' surface that can accommodate normally incompatible electronic devices on a single chip.

Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (March 24, 1997)
Promising to be one of the major new microscopes of the future, the MRFM can potentially image biological objects in their natural environments at atom-scale resolution.

Superfluid Helium-3 (October 11, 1996)
See how atoms of the isotope helium-3 can form a superfluid, a liquid which flows without inner friction.

Oscillons (September 12, 1996)
Oscillons are stable clumps of particles which bob up and down in granular materials such as sand.

3-D Video Display (September 6, 1996)
See an image of a three-dimensional, full color video display.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]