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Researchers develop colorized X-ray imaging for clearer material and tissue analysis

When German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays in the late 1800s while experimenting with cathode ray tubes, it was a breakthrough that transformed science and medicine. So much so that the basic concept remains in use today. But a team of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories believes they’ve found a better way, harnessing different metals and the colors of light they emit.

“It’s called colorized hyperspectral X-ray imaging with multi-metal targets, or CHXI MMT for short,” said project lead Edward Jimenez, an optical engineer. Jimenez has been working with materials scientist Noelle Collins and electronics engineer Courtney Sovinec to create X-rays of the future.

“With this new technology, we are essentially going from the old way, which is black and white, to a whole new colored world where we can better identify materials and defects of interest,” Collins said.

‘Quantum squeezing’ a nanoscale particle for the first time

Researchers Mitsuyoshi Kamba, Naoki Hara, and Kiyotaka Aikawa of the University of Tokyo have successfully demonstrated quantum squeezing of the motion of a nanoscale particle, a motion whose uncertainty is smaller than that of quantum mechanical fluctuations.

As enhancing the measurement precision of sensors is vital in many modern technologies, the achievement paves the way not only for basic research in fundamental physics but also for applications such as accurate autonomous driving and navigation without a GPS signal. The findings are published in the journal Science.

The physical world at the macroscale, from to planets, is governed by the laws of discovered by Newton in the 17th century. The physical world at the microscale, atoms and below, is governed by the laws of quantum mechanics, which lead to phenomena generally not observed at the macroscale.

Physicist proves unsolvability beyond one dimension for quantum Ising models

By extending a proof of a physically important behavior in one-dimensional quantum spin systems to higher dimensions, a RIKEN physicist has shown in a new study that the model lacks exact solutions. The research is published in the journal Physical Review B.

Theoretical physicists develop mathematical models to describe material systems, which they can then use to make predictions about how materials will behave.

One of the most important models is the Ising model, which was first developed about a century ago to model such as iron and nickel.

Shape-shifting collisions offer new tool for studying early matter produced in Big Bang’s aftermath

This summer, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) took a breath of fresh air. Normally filled with beams of protons, the 27-km ring was reconfigured to enable its first oxygen–oxygen and neon–neon collisions. First results from the new data, recorded over a period of six days by the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb experiments, were presented during the Initial Stages conference held in Taipei, Taiwan, on 7–12 September.

Smashing into one another allows physicists to study the quark–gluon plasma (QGP), an extreme state of matter that mimics the conditions of the universe during its first microseconds, before atoms formed. Until now, exploration of this hot and dense state of free particles at the LHC relied on collisions between (like lead or xenon), which maximize the size of the plasma droplet created.

Collisions between lighter ions, such as oxygen, open a new window on the QGP to better understand its characteristics and evolution. Not only are they smaller than lead or xenon, allowing a better investigation of the minimum size of nuclei needed to create the QGP, but they are less regular in shape. A neon nucleus, for example, is predicted to be elongated like a bowling pin—a picture that has now been brought into sharper focus thanks to the new LHC results.

Physicists create new electrically controlled silicon-based quantum device

A team of scientists at Simon Fraser University’s Quantum Technology Lab and leading Canada-based quantum company Photonic Inc. have created a new type of silicon-based quantum device controlled both optically and electrically, marking the latest breakthrough in the global quantum computing race.

The research, published in the journal Nature Photonics, reveals new diode nanocavity devices for electrical control over silicon color center qubits.

The devices have achieved the first-ever demonstration of an electrically-injected single-photon source in silicon. The breakthrough clears another hurdle toward building a quantum computer—which has enormous potential to provide computing power well beyond that of today’s supercomputers and advance fields like chemistry, materials science, medicine and cybersecurity.

How you make it matters: Spintronics device performance tied to atomic interface changes

Spintronics devices will be key to realizing faster and more energy-efficient computers. To give us a better understanding of how to make them, a Kobe University team now showed how different manufacturing techniques influence the material properties of a key component.

Electronic devices could be made more efficient and faster if electrons could carry more information at once. This is the basic idea behind spintronics, where researchers try to use the electrons’ spin in addition to charge in , processing and sensor devices to significantly improve our computers.

One component for such devices is the “,” which may be used, for example, for neuron-like behavior in information processing or in a new type of fast and non-volatile memory. They consist of two ferromagnets, usually a nickel-iron alloy, sandwiching a thin insulating layer such as graphene.

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

Tiny solid particles—like pollutants, cloud droplets and medicine powders—form highly concentrated clusters in turbulent environments like smokestacks, clouds and pharmaceutical mixers.

What causes these extreme clusters—which make it more difficult to predict everything from the spread of wildfire smoke to finding the right combination of ingredients for more effective drugs—has puzzled scientists.

A University at Buffalo study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests the answer lies within the electric forces between particles.

Advanced AI links atomic structure to quantum tech

A research team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a new method to uncover the atomic origins of unusual material behavior. This approach uses Bayesian deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence that combines probability theory and neural networks to analyze complex datasets with exceptional efficiency.

The technique reduces the amount of time needed for experiments. It helps researchers explore sample regions widely and rapidly converge on important features that exhibit interesting properties.

“This method makes it possible to study a material’s properties with much greater efficiency,” said ORNL’s Ganesh Narasimha. “Usually, we would need to scan a large region, and then several small regions, and perform spectroscopy, which is very time-consuming. Here, the AI algorithm takes control and does this process automatically and intelligently.”

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