(PhysOrg.com) -- In two separate studies, Princeton-led teams of scientists have found a new type of `light-like` electron and visualized for the first time another type that doesn`t bounce back when material imperfections are encountered on the surface of special insulators. The discoveries advance the fundamental understanding of condensed matter physics and may have implications for the development of computing devices millions of times faster than today`s most powerful computers.

(PhysOrg.com) -- A series of neutron scattering experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other research centers is exploring the key question about a long-sought quantum state of matter called supersolidity: Does it exist?

For decades, scientists have studied a class of materials called ‘multiferroics’ in which static electric and magnetic structures are coupled to each other. This allows capabilities such as controlling magnetic order with electric fields instead of magnetic ones, making it easier to build devices such as sensors and computer memory. 

Knowing how to control the combined magnetic properties of interacting electrons will provide the basis to develop an important tool for advancing spintronics: a technology that aims to harness these properties for computation and communication. As a crucial first step, Naoto Nagaosa from the RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, Wako, and ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Two electrons that are emitted from a large molecule by a single photon may originate from far apart within that molecule. In a recent study on hydrocarbon molecules consisting of one to five fused benzene rings (each ring consisting of six carbon atoms), Synchrotron Radiation Center researchers Tim ...

A team of MIT researchers has developed a way of making a high-temperature version of a kind of materials called photonic crystals, using metals such as tungsten or tantalum. The new materials — which can operate at temperatures up to 1200 degrees Celsius — could find a wide variety of ...

Pran Nath, the Matthews Distinguished Professor of Physics at Northeastern University, is among a group of leading theoretical physicists who have asked the Department of Energy to develop a large underground neutrino facility to maintain U.S. leadership in the frontier of particle physics. We asked Nath to explain the facility ...

Solid-state memory is seeing an increase in demand due to the emergence of portable devices such as tablet computers and smart phones. Spin-transfer torque magnetoresistive random-access memory (STT-MRAM) is a new type of solid-state memory that uses electrical currents to read and write data that are stored on magnetic moment ...