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Quantum magnet is billions of times colder than interstellar space

1 September 2022

A magnet made out of ytterbium atoms is only a billionth of a degree warmer than absolute zero. Understanding how it works could help physicists build high-temperature superconductors

3d render of helium-3 atom on a cloudy purple background; Shutterstock ID 117909754; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Protons inside some types of hydrogen and helium are behaving weirdly

31 August 2022

In some types of helium and hydrogen, protons are more than six times as likely to pair up than they are in other atoms – which may mean there is something we don’t understand about the strong nuclear force

Super-sized atoms can be used as a receiver to stream live video

17 May 2022

When excited by lasers, a tiny glass container filled with rubidium atoms can act as a receiver for streamed video signals

A specially sculpted laser beam created this photorealistic image of a cat From the researcher: The whole image in the camera (CCD), showing the edges of the (Gaussian) beam, where the dark rectangle background (around the cat) shows the edges of the target image we used to imprint the phase. It is easy to notice it, because it is slightly misaligned with the CCD pixels.

Scientists made a laser beam shaped like a photorealistic cat

6 May 2022

Laser beams normally take the shape of a dot, but by manipulating light with liquid crystals, researchers have bent one into the shape of a photo of a cat

How is gold made? The mysterious cosmic origins of heavy elements

21 July 2021

We have long struggled to figure out where heavy elements like gold come from. Now we have seen them being forged in neutron star collisions – and fresh clues suggest a role for the universe's first stars