Condensed Matter news
An impossible alloy now possible
Feb 26, 2009 |
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What has been impossible has now been shown to be possible - an alloy between two incompatible elements. The findings are being published in this week's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA.
Reverse Chemical Switching of a Ferroelectric Film
Feb 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Ferroelectric materials display a spontaneous electric polarization below the Curie temperature that can be reoriented, typically by applying an electric field. In this study, researchers ...
Cross-Dressing Rubidium May Reveal Clues for Exotic Computing
Feb 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Neutral atoms--having no net electric charge--usually don't act very dramatically around a magnetic field. But by “dressing them up” with light, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute, a collaborative ...
One of the most important problems in materials science solved
Feb 23, 2009 |
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Together with three colleagues Professor Peter Oppeneer of Uppsala University has explained the hitherto unsolved mystery in materials science known as 'the hidden order' - how a new phase arises and why. This discovery ...
Novel diamond-like films on board NASA satellite
Feb 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Diamond-like carbon films created at Sandia National Laboratories are helping probe the far boundaries of the solar system as part of a NASA mission to study how the sun's solar wind interacts ...
Pore-free Ceramics Shine New Light on Lasers, Electronics and Biomedical Implants
Feb 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- To most people, the word "ceramics," refers to opaque clay flower pots or translucent porcelain tea cups. But not all ceramics block or scatter light.
Reverse current sheds new light on solar cells
Feb 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The electric breakthrough of solar cells cannot be ascribed to the surface preparation as has now been demonstrated by physicists at the University of Leipzig and the company Q-Cells SE in ...
Scientists Discover Material Harder Than Diamond
Feb 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Currently, diamond is regarded to be the hardest known material in the world. But by considering large compressive pressures under indenters, scientists have calculated that a material called ...
New Smart Material Bends Under Internal Heat Source
Feb 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have developed a new smart material that can bend under the influence of an internal heat source. The material could be used as an aerodynamic flap in cars, in order to stabilize ...
New, Unusual Semiconductor is a Switch-Hitter
Jan 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A research group in Germany has discovered a semiconducting material that can switch its semiconducting properties -- turning from one type of semiconductor to another -- via a simple change in temperature. ...
Discovery of ionic elemental crystal against chemical intuition
Jan 29, 2009 |
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An ETH Zurich researcher has developed a computational method for predicting the structure of materials. He used it to solve the structure of a newly synthesized form of pure boron that displays some unusual physical properties ...
Domain walls that conduct electricity
Jan 29, 2009 |
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The logic and memory functions of future electronic devices could shrink dramatically - to one or two nanometers (billionths of a meter) instead of the many tens of nanometers that characterize today's most ...
New Single-Element Compound Discovered
Jan 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Florida International University researchers have discovered a new single-element compound, a breakthrough that could rewrite chemistry books.
A crystal clear view of chalk formation
Jan 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- It has a beautiful, but also an unpleasant side: crystallization determines the shape of precious stones, but also causes the lime scale in washing machines. How this comes about, has been ...
Researchers heat up gold to surprising effect: It gets harder not softer
Jan 22, 2009 |
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Common sense tells us that when you heat something up it gets softer, but a team of researchers, led by University of Toronto chemistry and physics professor R.J. Dwayne Miller, has demonstrated the exact ...
