Archive for the ‘physics’ category: Page 271
Mar 18, 2016
Interview with Pavel Exner ahead of his 70th birthday
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: education, physics
Going back to the start, how did you come to studying Theoretical Physics?
As with most people my path was determined by a series of choices involving random factors. I liked mathematics and physics at school, and did well in the olympiads, but I liked also literature, history, etc. At the age of fourteen I choose a technical-type high school oriented at nuclear disciplines, as popular then as they are despised by many these days, probably because it was one of the most difficult and challenging ones.
The way from there to the Technical University was straightforward. Since I have the need to understand things from the first principles, I drifted gradually towards theoretical physics and it was only natural that in the middle of my studies, corresponding roughly to the bachelor degree nowadays, I ended up at the Theoretical Physics Department of the Charles University, where I subsequently graduated.
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Mar 17, 2016
Supercomputer simulates whole-body blood flow
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: biotech/medical, physics, supercomputing
Physicists say a supercomputer simulation of blood flow around the entire human body is showing promise, based on an experimental test.
Mar 16, 2016
SFCI Archive: Virtual Reality: An Emerging Medium (1993)
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: education, physics, virtual reality
studioforcreativeinquiry.org/projects/the-networked-virtual-art-museum
studioforcreativeinquiry.org/projects/iten-interdisciplinary-teaching-network
Directed by Carl Loeffler, The Networked Virtual Art Museum was a pioneering project that investigated telecommunications and virtual reality, and provided a basis for multiple users located in distant geographical locations to be conjoined in the same virtual, immersion environment. The project employed telecommunication hardware, as well as the hardware associated with virtual reality: data eyephones and multi-directional navigation devices. The immersion environment was an art museum with galleries offering various exhibitions.
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Mar 14, 2016
Michigan company looks to halve offshore wind costs
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: climatology, energy, physics
Mar 10, 2016
Interstellar Missions Survey
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: evolution, physics, space travel
An interstellar precursor mission has been discussed as a priority for science for over 30 years. It would improve our knowledge of the interstellar environment and address fundamental questions of astrophysics, from the origin of matter to the evolution of the Galaxy. A precursor mission would involve an initial exploration probe and aim to test technological capabilities for future large-scale missions. With this survey we intend to identify potential backers and gauge the public’s interest in such a mission.
This survey is conducted by the International Space University (www.isunet.edu) in collaboration with the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (www.I4IS.org). Your data will not be shared with any other organisation.
Mar 9, 2016
Incredibly Precise LISA Orbiter Brings Us A Step Closer To Understanding Gravitational Waves
Posted by Andreas Matt in category: physics
LISA Pathfinder is a precursor to the largest experiment ever, and it’s just getting fired up.
Mar 3, 2016
Is Consciousness the Unified Field? A Field Theorist’s Perspective — John Hagelin, SAND11
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: cosmology, neuroscience, physics
http://www.scienceandnonduality.com
John Hagelin, Director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy Director of the Board of Advisors for the David Lynch Foundation.
Feb 29, 2016
Physicists promise a copper revolution in nanophotonics
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: computing, electronics, nanotechnology, physics
Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have for the first time experimentally demonstrated that copper nanophotonic components can operate successfully in photonic devices – it was previously believed that only gold and silver components could do so. Copper components are not only just as good as components based on noble metals; they can also be easily implemented in integrated circuits using industry-standard fabrication processes. “This is a kind of revolution – using copper will solve one of the main problems in nanophotonics,” say the authors of the paper. The results have been published in the scientific journal Nano Letters.
The discovery, which is revolutionary for photonics and the computers of the future, was made by researchers from the Laboratory of Nanooptics and Plasmonics at MIPT’s Centre of Nanoscale Optoelectronics. They have succeeded, for the first time, in producing copper nanophotonic components, whose characteristics are just as good as those of gold components. It is interesting to note that the scientists fabricated the copper components using the process compatible with the industry-standard manufacturing technologies that are used today to produce modern integrated circuits. This means that in the very near future copper nanophotonic components will form a basis for the development of energy-efficient light sources, ultra-sensitive sensors, as well as high-performance optoelectronic processors with several thousand cores.
The discovery was made under what is known as nanophotonics – a branch of research which aims, among other things, to replace existing components in data processing devices with more modern components by using photons instead of electrons. However, while transistors can be scaled down in size to a few nanometres, the diffraction of light limits the minimum dimensions of photonic components to the size of about the light wavelength (~1 micrometre). Despite the fundamental nature of this so-called diffraction limit, one can overcome it by using metal-dielectric structures to create truly nanoscale photonic components. Firstly, most metals show a negative permittivity at optical frequencies, and light cannot propagate through them, penetrating to a depth of only 25 nanometres. Secondly, light may be converted into surface plasmon polaritons, surface waves propagating along the surface of a metal. This makes it possible to switch from conventional 3D photonics to 2D surface plasmon photonics, which is known as plasmonics. This offers the possibility of controlling light at a scale of around 100 nanometres, i.e., far beyond the diffraction limit.
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Feb 29, 2016
Time travel a step closer as physicists say we live in a universe-sized ‘flicker book’
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: physics, space, time travel
TIME throughout the universe is like a giant ‘flicker book’ which can be broken into an almost infinite number of separate moments, scientists said today.