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Ultrafast laser pulses reveal solid-state bandgaps in motion

The bandgap, i.e. the energy gap between the highest lying valence and the lowest lying conduction band, is a defining property of insulating solids, governing how they absorb light and conduct electricity. Tracking how a bandgap changes under strong laser excitation has been a long-standing challenge, since the underlying processes unfold on femtosecond timescales and are difficult to track directly, especially for wide-bandgap dielectrics.

In a between the Max-Born-Institute, ARCNL Amsterdam, and Aarhus University, researchers have now shown that extreme ultraviolet (XUV) high-harmonic interferometry can provide direct access to such dynamics.

Using pairs of phase-locked near-infrared laser pulses, the team measured and their intensity-dependent shift in the generated high-order harmonics from silica glass (SiO2) and magnesium oxide (MgO).

Enormous structures discovered under the North Sea ‘defy our geologic understanding’

Deep beneath the North Sea, researchers have mapped giant buried mounds and “sinkites” that turn a basic rule of geology on its head.

A new peer reviewed study shows that heavy, younger sands sank downward while older, lighter layers rose, forming hidden hills under the seafloor.

Google’s New AI Doesn’t Just Find Vulnerabilities — It Rewrites Code to Patch Them

Google’s DeepMind division on Monday announced an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered agent called CodeMender that automatically detects, patches, and rewrites vulnerable code to prevent future exploits.

The efforts add to the company’s ongoing efforts to improve AI-powered vulnerability discovery, such as Big Sleep and OSS-Fuzz.

DeepMind said the AI agent is designed to be both reactive and proactive, by fixing new vulnerabilities as soon as they are spotted as well as rewriting and securing existing codebases with an aim to eliminate whole classes of vulnerabilities in the process.

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