Condensed Matter news

Unexpectedly Long-Range Effects in Advanced Magnetic Devices

Physics / Condensed Matter

Jul 01, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (8) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- A tiny grid pattern has led materials scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Institute of Solid State Physics in Russia to an unexpected finding—the ...

Scientists discover giant Rydberg atom molecules

Physics / Condensed Matter

Jun 24, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (12) | 4

A group of University of Oklahoma researchers led by Dr. James P. Shaffer, Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, have discovered giant Rydberg molecules with a bond as large as a red blood cell. Determining ...

A new approach to engineering for extreme environments (w/ Video)

Physics / Condensed Matter

Jun 24, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (2) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Composite materials such as fiberglass, which take on a mix of properties of their constituent compounds, have been around for decades. Now, an MIT materials scientist is taking composites ...

Of traffic jams, beach sands and the zero-temperature jamming transition

Physics / Condensed Matter

May 13, 2009 | 3.3 / 5 (3) | 0

Researchers in condensed matter physics at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago have created an experimental and computer model to study how jamming, the physical process in which collections of particles ...

High-pressure compound could be key to hydrogen-powered vehicles

Physics / Condensed Matter

May 11, 2009 | 2.7 / 5 (15) | 11

A hydrogen-rich compound discovered by Stanford researchers is packed with promise of helping overcome one of the biggest hurdles to using hydrogen for fuel--namely, how do you stuff enough hydrogen into a volume that is ...

Storing a Lightning Bolt in Glass for Portable Power

Physics / Condensed Matter

May 05, 2009 | 4 / 5 (20) | 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- Materials researchers at Penn State University have reported the highest known breakdown strength for a bulk glass ever measured. Breakdown strength, along with dielectric constant, determines ...

Power thrust for spider silk

Physics / Condensed Matter

Apr 24, 2009 | 4 / 5 (11) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Spiderman would definitely have an easier time of things with this spider silk - for example, if he had to stop a getaway car moving off at 100 kilometres per hour. A five-millimetre-thick ...

Green light from Silicon

Physics / Condensed Matter

Apr 15, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (14) | 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of St Andrews have made a surprise discovery that the material at the heart of the microelectronics industry can emit green light.

Nano changes rise to macro importance in a key electronics material

Physics / Condensed Matter

Apr 08, 2009 | 4 / 5 (2) | 0

By combining the results of a number of powerful techniques for studying material structure at the nanoscale, a team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, working with colleagues in other ...

Scientists Discover Pentagonal Ice

Physics / Condensed Matter

Apr 07, 2009 | 4 / 5 (13) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Liverpool have discovered a five-sided ice chain structure that could be used to modify future weather patterns.

Molecular Alignment Gives Monolayers the Edge in Bendable Semiconductor

Physics / Condensed Matter

Apr 07, 2009 | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Reprogrammable product tags, bendable displays and flexible solar cells--the field of organic semiconductor research is advancing these possibilities toward reality. By layering hydrocarbon ...

Scientists spy Galfenol's inner beauty mark

Physics / Condensed Matter

Mar 25, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (10) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The sonar on submarines may get far more sensitive ears in the near future thanks to a mysterious compound developed by the military. Developed over a decade ago, it took a collaboration of ...

Carbon dioxide forms polymeric materials under high pressure

Physics / Condensed Matter

Mar 25, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (2) | 0

Carbon dioxide is a molecular gas at ambient conditions and an important consitituent of the Earth’s atmosphere. It is also a likely component in the Earth’s mantle, and it plays an important role in the life ...

Glass you can build with: Metallic glass that's stronger and lasts longer

Physics / Condensed Matter

Mar 24, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (27) | 11

(PhysOrg.com) -- The normal structure of metals is crystalline. Glass, on the other hand, is amorphous. But it's possible to make amorphous forms of metal, metallic glasses, which can be remarkably strong, ...

Dancing 'adatoms' help chemists understand how water molecules split

Physics / Condensed Matter

Mar 16, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (8) | 0

Single oxygen atoms dancing on a metal oxide slab, glowing brighter here and dimmer there, have helped chemists better understand how water splits into oxygen and hydrogen. In the process, the scientists have visualized a ...

Scientists confirms liquid-liquid phase transition in silicon

Physics / Condensed Matter

Mar 16, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 0

Using rigorous computer calculations, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Institution of Washington have established evidence that supercooled silicon experiences a liquid-liquid phase transition, ...

Metal Becomes Transparent Under High Pressure

Physics / Condensed Matter

Mar 12, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (19) | 10

An international team of scientists have discovered a transparent form of the element sodium (Na). The team, led by Artem Oganov, Professor of Theoretical Crystallography at Stony Brook University, and Yanming ...

Physicists offer new theory for iron compounds

Physics / Condensed Matter

Mar 12, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (7) | 0

An international team of physicists from the United States and China this week offered a new theory to both explain and predict the complex quantum behavior of a new class of high-temperature superconductors.