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‘Time Reflections’ Finally Observed by Physicists After Decades of Searching

Walk through a maze of mirrors, you’ll soon come face to face with yourself. Your nose meets your nose, your fingertips touch at their phantom twins, stopped abruptly by a boundary of glass.

Most of the time, a reflection needs no explanation. The collision of light with the mirror’s surface is almost intuitive, its rays set on a new path through space with the same ease as a ball bouncing off a wall.

For over sixty years, however, physicists have considered a subtly different kind of reflection. One that occurs not through the three dimensions of space, but in time.

In a first, scientists show time reflection of electromagnetic waves

The breakthrough experiment could lead to low-energy, wave-based computers and new applications for wireless communications.

Researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) performed a breakthrough experiment in which they observed time reflections of electromagnetic signals in a tailored metamaterial.

Time reflection versus spatial reflection.


Andrea Alu.

The scientists, who published their findings in a paper in Nature Physics, were able to successfully cause time reversal as well as frequency conversion of broadband electromagnetic waves in their experiments.

Up to 1,000,000 Times Faster: A Switch Made From a Single Molecule

An international team of researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Solid State Physics, has made a groundbreaking discovery. They have successfully demonstrated the use of a single molecule named fullerene as a switch, similar to a transistor. The team achieved this by employing a precisely calibrated laser pulse, which allowed them to control the path of an incoming electron in a predictable manner.

The switching process enabled by fullerene molecules can be significantly faster than the switches used in microchips, with a speed increase of three to six orders of magnitude, depending on the laser pulses utilized. The use of fullerene switches in a network could result in the creation of a computer with capabilities beyond what is currently achievable with electronic transistors. Additionally, they have the potential to revolutionize microscopic imaging devices by providing unprecedented levels of resolution.

Over 70 years ago, physicists discovered that molecules emit electrons in the presence of electric fields, and later on, certain wavelengths of light. The electron emissions created patterns that enticed curiosity but eluded explanation. But this has changed thanks to a new theoretical analysis, the ramification of which could not only lead to new high-tech applications but also improve our ability to scrutinize the physical world itself.

Decoding the Brain

How does the brain retrieve memories, articulate words, and focus attention? Recent advances have provided a newfound ability to decipher, sharpen, and adjust electrical signals relevant to speech, attention, memory and emotion. Join Brian Greene and leading neuroscientists György Buzsáki, Edward Chang, Michael Halassa, Michael Kahana and Helen Mayberg for a thrilling exploration of how we’re learning to read and manipulate the mind.

The Kavli Prize recognizes scientists for their seminal advances in astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience — topics covered in the series “The Big, the Small, and the Complex.” This series is sponsored by The Kavli Foundation and The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

Participants:
Michael Halassa.
Edward Chang.
Michael Kahana.
Helen S. Mayberg.
György Buzsáki.

Moderator:
Brian Greene.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS on this program through a short survey: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6752217/WSF-2022-Decoding-the-Brain.

WSF Landing Page Link: https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/programs/decoding-the-brain/

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1973

Was divided, one half jointly to Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever ‘for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively’ and the other half to Brian David Josephson ‘for his theoretical predictions of the properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effects’

Physicists explore mysteries of strange metals

Physicists are learning more about the bizarre behavior of “strange metals,” which operate outside the normal rules of electricity.

Theoretical physicist Yashar Komijani, an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati, contributed to an international experiment using a strange metal made from an alloy of ytterbium, a . Physicists in a lab in Hyogo, Japan, fired radioactive gamma rays at the strange metal to observe its unusual electrical behavior.

Led by Hisao Kobayashi with the University of Hyogo and RIKEN, the study was published in the journal Science. The experiment revealed unusual fluctuations in the strange metal’s .

Bizarre Properties of Strange Metals Unlocked by Physics Experiment

Physicists at the University of Cincinnati have contributed to an international experiment on strange metals made from an alloy of ytterbium, a rare earth metal. The study involved firing radioactive gamma rays at the strange metal to observe its unusual electrical behavior. The experiment revealed unusual fluctuations in the strange metal’s electrical charge, furthering the understanding of the bizarre behavior of strange metals that operate outside the normal rules of electricity.

International team finds unusual electrical behavior in material that holds promise for new technology.

Physicists at the University of Cincinnati (UC) are learning more about the bizarre behavior of “strange metals,” which operate outside the normal rules of electricity.

‘Revolutionary’ blue crystal resurrects hope of room temperature superconductivity

Has the quest for room temperature superconductivity finally succeeded? Researchers at the University of Rochester (U of R), who previously were forced to retract a controversial claim of room temperature superconductivity at high pressures, are back with an even more spectacular claim. This week in they report a new material that superconducts at room temperature—and not much more than ambient pressures.

“If this is correct, it’s completely revolutionary,” says James Hamlin, a physicist at the University of Florida who was not involved with the work. A room temperature superconductor would usher in a century-long dream. Existing superconductors require expensive and bulky chilling systems to conduct electricity frictionlessly, but room temperature materials could lead to hyperefficient electricity grids and computer chips, as well as the ultrapowerful magnets needed for levitating trains and fusion power.

But given the U of R group’s recent retraction, many physicists won’t be easily convinced. “I think they will have to do some real work and be really open for people to believe it,” Hamlin says. Jorge Hirsch, a physicist at the University of California, San Diego, and a vociferous critic of the earlier work, is even more blunt. “I doubt [the new result], because I don’t trust these authors.”