To the Edge of Melting

User rating: 4.3 / 5 after 23 vote(s)

To time-stamp the arrival of each x-ray pulse researchers use an electro-optic crystal (green) placed next to the electron beam (white) in the linear accelerator just before the beam produces x-rays. A laser (red) probes changes in the crystal to mea ...
To time-stamp the arrival of each x-ray pulse, researchers use an electro-optic crystal (green) placed next to the electron beam (white) in the linear accelerator just before the beam produces x-rays. A laser (red) probes changes in the crystal to measure the exact time the beam passed by. This image was created by Jean Charles Castagna, SLAC.

Picking a relatively simple system, SLAC scientists and their collaborators used advanced tools to see the very first instants of change in a solid brought to the edge of melting. Their results appear in the February 2 issue of Science.


Full story »
All News summaries from Physics news
All News summaries for February 02, 2007

Einstein was right: Unique stellar system provides 'laboratory' for testing relativity

Jul 03, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Researchers at McGill University's Department of Physics – along with colleagues from several countries – have confirmed a long-held prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, via observations ...

Qubits and Branes Share Surprising Features

Jul 03, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
What do black holes and entangled particles have in common? Until about a year ago, physicists thought that the two entities existed in completely separate worlds. Then, in 2007, physicist Michael Duff from ...

Some fundamental interactions of matter found to be fundamentally different than thought

Jul 02, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Collisions have consequences. Everyone knows that. Whether it's between trains, planes, automobiles or atoms, there are always repercussions. But while macroscale collisions may have the most obvious effects - mangled steel, ...

Atomic Tug of War

Jul 02, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
A new form of energy-transfer, reported today in Nature (3 July 2008) may have implications for the study of reactions going on in the atmosphere, and even for those occurring in the body.

A front-row seat at this summer's physics extravaganza

Jul 02, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Nearly 20 years in the making, the largest particle accelerator in the world will start running in Switzerland this summer, offering scientists a glimpse of particles that have never been seen before.
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive