3+ day, 5+ hour ago   (249+ words) Could radioactive atoms in a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) form a “superradiant neutrino laser”? According to a paper published last year by Benjamin Jones and Joseph Formaggio of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the answer is “yes”. We were intrigued…...

3+ day, 13+ hour ago   (218+ words) One of the major challenges was simply doing precision optical experiments outdoors, he adds. “We had to contend with the unpredictability of nature: changes in sunlight and temperature, wind, rain and even the thermal expansion of buildings, which can affect…...

4+ day, 6+ hour ago   (353+ words) Bashi Thipe is a PhD student contributor to Physics World. He is based at the Botswana International University of Science & Technology (BIUST), where he serves as both a doctoral researcher and a junior lecturer. His PhD research examines how molecular…...

4+ day, 10+ hour ago   (555+ words) Alex Krasnok argues that the value of a university quantum computer lies in what students learn from it The best moment in my quantum-computing class often comes when something fails. A student writes a short quantum circuit – a program that…...

4+ day, 10+ hour ago   (378+ words) New work suggests that building nontrivial topologies around optical vortices could be a better strategy than engineering delicate polarisation patterns across an entire beam Structured light is light with a designed spatial pattern. It can be shaped into standard topological…...

5+ day, 6+ hour ago   (498+ words) Physicists at China’s BESIII experiment in Beijing have found the strongest evidence yet for the existence of glueballs – subatomic particles made of gluons alone. The glueball-like particle is called X(2370) and it was first spotted at BESIII 15 years ago. Gluons…...

5+ day, 12+ hour ago   (422+ words) The double-slit experiment is perhaps the most iconic demonstration in quantum mechanics: showing how a single particle’s wavefunction interferes with itself as it passes through two slits at once, with a tangible impact on where the particle is ultimately observed....

6+ day, 12+ hour ago   (184+ words) In any ionized system there is the potential for magnetic fields, but simulations of disc formation often take no account of them, partly as they remain poorly constrained: “It’s a lot easier to just crank up the gravity and use…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago   (212+ words) Quiz of the week: how much data will NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Telescope produce each day? Physics World - Enter password Show password Password field is now showing your password - Access more than 20 years of online content - Manage which e-mail newsletters…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago   (220+ words) Isabelle Dumé is a contributing editor to Physics World. She has more than 10 years of experience in science writing and editing in condensed-matter physics relating to technology/nanotechnology/biotechnology, astronomy and astrophysics, energy and the environment, biology and medicine. She…...