When is a supersolid not quite so super?

User rating: 4.4 / 5 after 40 vote(s)

Solid helium S comes to a higher level inside the tube than outside. Liquid helium L fills the rest of the apparatus. The height difference h can be eliminated only if liquid helium can pass through the solid helium blocking the tube. Credit: Image: ...
Solid helium [S] comes to a higher level inside the tube than outside. Liquid helium [L] fills the rest of the apparatus. The height difference [h] can be eliminated only if liquid helium can pass through the solid helium blocking the tube. Credit: Image: Frederic Caupin

A deceptively simple experiment, recently published in the journal Science, has moved physics one step closer to explaining the odd behavior of supersolid helium. The unusual state of matter – in which a portion of the atoms are able to flow through a solid crystal with no resistance – was predicted as early as 1969 but not observed until recently.


Full story »
All News summaries from Physics news
All News summaries for October 24, 2006

The Lightness of Electrons in a Twisting Metal Crystal

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of researchers at Princeton University's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center has observed electrons moving through a crystal of bismuth metal behaving like light.

Proposed Particle Help Explains Odd Galactic Photons

7 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
In 2002, a satellite called INTEGRAL was launched by the European Space Agency with an instrument on board to detect and measure gamma rays from space. Four years later, it yielded some intriguing data: An unusually high ...

Electron microscopy enters the picometer scale

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Jülich scientists have succeeded in precisely measuring atomic spacings down to a few picometres using new methods in ultrahigh-resolution electron microscopy. This makes it possible to find out decisive parameters ...

Revolutionary materials reflect ancient forms

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Although order is pleasing to the eye, it can quickly become boring. In Islamic architecture therefore, decoration often follows a strict yet aperiodic pattern. Similar structures also form ...

Shielding for ambitious neutron experiment

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
In science fiction stories it is either the inexhaustible energy source of the future or a superweapon of galactic magnitude: antimaterial. In fact, antimaterial can neither be found on Earth nor in space, is extremely complex ...
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive