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Team develops modulator for compact photonic integrated circuits

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-team-modulator-compact-photonic-circuits.html

Published: April 28, 2026 19:20

Researchers at Skoltech have developed an ultra-compact electro-optic modulator based on silicon photonics and plasmonics that enables high-efficiency optical signal control within a small device footprint. The development could find applications in…

Light can now be shaped in empty space, and it could simplify sensing and boost data links

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-space-boost-links.html

Published: April 28, 2026 17:50

Scientists at the University of East Anglia have uncovered a hidden property of light that allows it to twist, spin and behave differently—without mirrors, materials or special lenses. In a breakthrough that could transform medical testing, data…

Hidden stripe pattern lets microscopes auto-focus across 400 times deeper range

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-hidden-stripe-pattern-microscopes-auto.html

Published: April 28, 2026 17:40

Anyone who has ever used a microscope knows that it takes time to bring a sample into sharp focus. Each time you move the slide, the image blurs, and you have to stop and carefully turn a knob to bring everything back into clear view. For scientists and…

Investigating the disordered heart of glass

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-disordered-heart-glass.html

Published: April 28, 2026 17:00

Recent research led by the University of Trento reveals that fundamental atomic vibrations remain unchanged also in ultra-stable glasses. This discovery advances the decade-long debate on the physics of disorder and opens the way to new applications, from…

A mechanical blue LED: Stretching GaN shifts light from UV to blue without changing chemistry

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mechanical-blue-gan-shifts-uv.html

Published: April 28, 2026 15:00

A research team from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has successfully used mechanical stretching technology to dynamically control the emission color of gallium nitride (GaN) material from ultraviolet (UV) to blue light.…

Why do high-speed particles bounce higher in wet collisions?

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-high-particles-higher-collisions.html

Published: April 28, 2026 09:40

Researchers have uncovered a counterintuitive phenomenon in collision dynamics: high-speed particles bounce back from wet walls much more strongly than expected. Integrating experimental observations with advanced numerical simulations revealed that…

AI slashes the time needed to design better heat-harvesting devices

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-slashes-harvesting-devices.html

Published: April 28, 2026 08:10

From wearable technology to industrial heat recovery, thermoelectric generators which convert waste heat into electricity have an enormous range of potential applications. So far, however, designing high-performing versions of these devices has remained a…

This ultracold quantum device turns electricity into something far stranger that could unlock sound-based lasers

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ultracold-quantum-device-electricity-stranger.html

Published: April 27, 2026 19:00

Researchers at McGill University have developed a novel device that generates sound-like particles known as phonons at extremely cold temperatures. The technology could be used to create phonon lasers, with possible applications in communications and…

Fragile no more, nickelates get an upgrade that changes how superconductivity endures

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-fragile-nickelates-superconductivity.html

Published: April 27, 2026 17:40

Discovered in 2019, the material known as nickelates has intrigued researchers for its potential to become a superconductor at elevated temperatures—a property that could significantly advance such fields as quantum science and energy transmission.…

Breaking connections helps ideas spread farther, says physics-based study

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ideas-physics-based.html

Published: April 27, 2026 16:30

Sticking with the same people might feel safe and comfortable. But a new Northwestern University study suggests it can actually trap new ideas and behaviors inside tight echo chambers. By contrast, the research, published in Communications Physics, shows…

Machine learning offers faster, more reliable analysis of Fermi surfaces in search of spintronic materials

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-machine-faster-reliable-analysis-fermi.html

Published: April 27, 2026 16:20

The search for next-generation electronic materials often starts with studying the Fermi surface, which serves as a map of a material's electronic structure. Its shape varies with crystal structure, composition, and electronic band arrangement, directly…

Single X-ray photons reveal hidden light-matter interactions in 50-nanometer double slits

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ray-photons-reveal-hidden-interactions.html

Published: April 27, 2026 15:20

A rainbow reveals with colors what otherwise remains hidden: light is "refracted" by transparent matter, in this case water droplets. This same physical effect underlies many everyday technologies, like LCD screens and broadband connections based on…

Neural network speeds tuning of attosecond light pulses for physics experiments

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-neural-network-tuning-attosecond-pulses.html

Published: April 27, 2026 15:00

Researchers from Skoltech and the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics have developed an approach that helps optimize the parameters of a laser-plasma source of attosecond pulses—ultrashort flashes of light used in physics experiments. Instead…

Synchrotron safety monitoring sheds light on dark photons

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-synchrotron-safety-dark-photons.html

Published: April 27, 2026 13:40

A scientist from Tokyo Metropolitan University has proposed using safety monitoring at synchrotron facilities to study the properties of dark photons, hypothetical particles proposed to explain dark matter. Calculations show that the X-ray source at these…

Why dolphins swim so fast: The secrets of hidden whirlpools

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-dolphins-fast-secrets-hidden-whirlpools.html

Published: April 27, 2026 08:00

Dolphins are famous for their speed and agility in the water, but what exactly allows them to swim so effectively? Scientists have been asking this question for years, hoping to learn how to optimize propulsion in fluids from these elegant creatures.

DuctGPT demonstrates how AI can accelerate discovery of next-generation fusion materials

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ductgpt-ai-discovery-generation-fusion.html

Published: April 27, 2026 07:00

Scientists at Ames National Laboratory developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that accelerates discovery of materials needed for next-generation fusion energy systems. The tool, DuctGPT, combines advanced AI with physics-based modeling to help…

Self-organizing 'pencil beam' laser could help scientists design brain-targeted therapies

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-pencil-laser-scientists-brain-therapies.html

Published: April 27, 2026 05:00

MIT researchers discovered a paradoxical phenomenon in optical physics that could enable a new bioimaging method that's faster and higher-resolution than existing technology. They discovered that, under the right conditions, a chaotic mess of laser light…

Deep under Antarctic ice, a long-predicted cosmic whisper finally breaks through in 13 strange bursts

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deep-antarctic-ice-cosmic-strange.html

Published: April 26, 2026 10:00

A detector buried deep in Antarctic ice has captured the first experimental evidence of a predicted but never-before-seen phenomenon: radio pulses generated when high-energy cosmic rays slam into the ice sheet and trigger particle cascades inside it.…

More activity means less response in active materials

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-response-materials.html

Published: April 25, 2026 13:00

For some time, researchers have assumed that solid materials could gain more useful properties by making their microscopic components more active. Now, a team led by Jack Binysh at the University of Amsterdam has found that this idea doesn't always hold.

Neutrinos caught on camera: Testing the first prototype of a new elementary particle detector

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-neutrinos-caught-camera-prototype-elementary.html

Published: April 24, 2026 18:20

Some innovations in physics come from entirely new technologies, others from fresh theoretical insights. Others still take shape by bringing together existing tools in new ways, working out how to combine them to outperform other solutions. The branch of…

Gravity's subtle effect on light could improve groundwater, volcano and carbon storage monitoring

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-gravity-subtle-effect-groundwater-volcano.html

Published: April 24, 2026 12:00

A study by University of Wollongong (UOW) physicist Dr. Enbang Li has demonstrated that gravity can subtly influence the behavior of light, a breakthrough that could underpin future technologies for monitoring groundwater, tracking glacier melt, locating…

New approach to detect ultra-rare part-per-sextillion isotopes could also sharpen dark matter searches

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-approach-ultra-rare-sextillion-isotopes.html

Published: April 24, 2026 10:40

The detection and study of isotopes, atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons, could expand the scope of physics research and enable new scientific discoveries. So far, rare isotopes have been primarily detected using a technique…

Quantum 'dark modes' no longer block phonon control, opening new paths for scalable devices

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-dark-modes-longer-block.html

Published: April 24, 2026 09:00

Three RIKEN researchers have demonstrated a way to stop problematic "dark modes" from squelching intriguing effects in quantum systems. This advance could help with the development of more versatile quantum devices that can be used to control the storage…

One-way phonon synchronization could survive noise and defects, theoretical physicists suggest

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-phonon-synchronization-survive-noise-defects.html

Published: April 24, 2026 08:40

A novel approach for realizing the one-way quantum synchronization of phonons has been proposed by three theoretical physicists at RIKEN. Importantly, this method is remarkably resilient against practical challenges such as imperfections and environmental…

How electron structure affects light responses in moiré materials

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-electron-affects-responses-moir-materials.html

Published: April 24, 2026 05:30

In materials science, if you can understand the "texture" of a material—how its internal patterns form and shift—you can begin to design how it behaves. That's the focus of the work of Zhenglu Li, assistant professor in the Mork Family Department of…

AI accelerators deliver accurate models for challenging quantum chemistry calculations

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-accurate-quantum-chemistry.html

Published: April 23, 2026 18:00

The most demanding calculations in quantum chemistry can now be solved with graphics processing unit (GPU) supercomputers. A recently published study shows that software adapted to use GPU hardware can provide not just speed, but also the accuracy needed…

AI automates quantum dot voltage tuning for scaling up quantum computing

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-automates-quantum-dot-voltage.html

Published: April 23, 2026 18:00

Semiconductor spin qubits are a promising candidate for the building blocks of next-generation quantum computers due to their high potential for integration and compatibility with existing semiconductor technologies. Qubits—like the 0s and 1s of a…

Quantum chips could scale faster with new spin-qubit readout that reduces sensors and wiring

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-chips-scale-faster-qubit.html

Published: April 23, 2026 12:40

Quantum computers, devices that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, could tackle some tasks that are difficult or impossible to solve using classical computers. These systems represent data as qubits, units of information that can…

Physicists revive 1990s laser concept to propose a next-generation atomic clock

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-physicists-revive-1990s-laser-concept.html

Published: April 23, 2026 10:10

Researchers in the US and Germany have unveiled a theoretical blueprint for an atomic clock driven by a highly synchronized laser, where atoms work in concert rather than independently. Publishing their results in Physical Review Letters, Jarrod Reilly at…

Soundwaves settle debate about elusive quantum particle

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-soundwaves-debate-elusive-quantum-particle.html

Published: April 22, 2026 16:40

It was a head-spinning discovery. In 2018, researchers in Japan claimed to find concrete evidence of an elusive particle, a Majorana fermion, in a quantum spin liquid called ruthenium trichloride. Majoranas are highly sought-after by quantum materials…

Quantum simulations that bypass resolution limits offer insights into high-temperature superconductivity

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-simulations-bypass-resolution-limits.html

Published: April 22, 2026 16:00

A new method developed at LMU overcomes fundamental resolution limits and may provide insights into high-temperature superconductivity. Physicist Dr. Sebastian Paeckel has developed a method that can be used to calculate spectral functions of complex…

Classical physics can explain quantum weirdness, study shows

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-classical-physics-quantum-weirdness.html

Published: April 22, 2026 14:40

When you throw a ball in the air, the equations of classical physics will tell you exactly what path the ball will take as it falls, and when and where it will land. But if you were to squeeze that same ball down to the size of an atom or smaller, it would…

ATLAS sets record limits on Higgs boson's self-interaction

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-atlas-limits-higgs-boson-interaction.html

Published: April 22, 2026 13:20

One of the biggest open questions in particle physics today is how the Higgs boson interacts with itself. This "self-coupling" could help explain the evolution of the early universe and the mechanism that gives mass to elementary particles. To try to shed…

Laser-plasma 'mirror' unlocks a new path to extreme light intensities

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-laser-plasma-mirror-path-extreme.html

Published: April 22, 2026 11:00

An international team of physicists has achieved a significant advance in laser science, demonstrating for the first time a practical route to dramatically boosting the intensity of high-power laser light.

Particle thought to break physics followed rules all along, research reveals

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-particle-thought-physics-reveals.html

Published: April 22, 2026 11:00

A tiny discrepancy in particle physics has loomed for decades as an exciting possible crack in one of science's most successful theories, hinting at unknown forces or quantum objects. Now, an international team led by a Penn State physicist has published…

A new route for plasma-based particle accelerators

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-route-plasma-based-particle.html

Published: April 22, 2026 10:40

Plasma, the fourth state of matter, consists of a gas in which electrons are no longer bound to atoms, which allows electricity to flow freely. When beams of particles moving close to the speed of light travel through plasma, they disturb electrons and…

Do decoherence, gravity, dark matter and dark energy all originate from quantum corrections?

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-decoherence-gravity-dark-energy-quantum.html

Published: April 22, 2026 07:30

Only about 5% of the universe is composed of normal matter that we can directly observe, while the remaining 95% is widely believed to consist of dark matter and dark energy. Paradoxically, however, the nature of these dark components remains unknown. Is…

Q&A: IceCube Observatory upgrades improve search for elusive cosmic messenger

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-qa-icecube-observatory-elusive-cosmic.html

Published: April 21, 2026 21:00

Buried within the Antarctic ice are more than 5,000 light sensors that work together to detect some of the highest energy particles in the universe. These tiny particles, called neutrinos, provide insight into the extreme cosmic events that created them as…

Scientists take a step toward a quantum internet using New York City's fiber

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-scientists-quantum-internet-york-city.html

Published: April 21, 2026 18:00

As long as there's been an internet, there's been a way to hack it. Scientists have spent decades imagining a different kind of network, one where the laws of physics make eavesdropping physically impossible, not just technically difficult. They call that…

Photonic chip generates milliwatt-level UV light, 100 times brighter than before

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-photonic-chip-generates-milliwatt-uv.html

Published: April 21, 2026 17:40

Researchers from the University of Twente and Harvard University have developed a new way to generate ultraviolet (UV) light on a photonic chip at power levels high enough for real-world use. For the first time, the technique produces milliwatt-level UV…

Your phone's next speed boost may come from a strange magnetic jump that rewrites how chips handle heat

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-boost-strange-magnetic-rewrites-chips.html

Published: April 21, 2026 17:10

A new technology has been proposed that could fundamentally solve the issue of smartphones overheating during high-spec gaming or extended video streaming. Researchers at KAIST have discovered the principle of processing signals using the minute vibrations…

ATLAS acts as a cosmic-ray laboratory with first measurement of proton–oxygen collisions

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-atlas-cosmic-ray-laboratory-protonoxygen.html

Published: April 21, 2026 14:40

Tens of kilometers above Earth's surface, high-energy particles from outer space constantly strike the atmosphere, creating showers of energetic secondary particles that rain down from the sky. Approximately one of these particles passes through your head…

Alternating atomic layers enable rare electron pairing mechanism in new unconventional superconductor

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-alternating-atomic-layers-enable-rare.html

Published: April 21, 2026 11:20

Superconductors, materials that can conduct electricity with a resistance of zero, have proved to be highly promising for the development of quantum technologies, medical imaging devices, particle accelerators and other advanced technologies. These…

Stretching and squeezing diamond opens new path for ultra-precise quantum sensors

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-diamond-path-ultra-precise-quantum.html

Published: April 21, 2026 10:40

Researchers have discovered a new way to tune the quantum properties of tiny defects in diamond—by gently stretching or compressing the crystal. These findings could pave the way for next-generation sensors that can detect pressure, temperature, and other…

A laser inspired by black holes: Extreme physics recreated in the lab

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-laser-black-holes-extreme-physics.html

Published: April 21, 2026 10:20

Researchers from Bar-Ilan University have successfully recreated key features of black hole physics in a laboratory setting using an innovative optical system that mimics how black holes behave after violent cosmic events such as collisions or mergers.

Pressure-tuned quantum spin liquid-like behavior observed in material Y-kapellasite

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-pressure-tuned-quantum-liquid-behavior.html

Published: April 21, 2026 08:00

A quantum spin liquid is a phase of matter in which the magnetic moments in a material do not align or freeze, even at temperatures close to absolute zero (i.e., at 0 K). The experimental realization of this highly dynamic state could have important…