Chemical contamination of water bodies on one hand, and water shortages due to overexploitation on the other, have increased the need for effective and efficient water treatment and decontamination processes. Two important aspects need to be taken into consideration to define what is an “effective and efficient” treatment. First, as current methods of removing pathogens […]
The scattering of conduction electrons in metals owing to impurities with magnetic moments is known as the Kondo effect, after Jun Kondo, who analysed the phenomenon in 1964. This scattering increases the electrical resistance and has the consequence that, in contrast to ordinary metals, the resistance reaches a minimum as the temperature is lowered and […]
nanocolloids The increasing attention to the design and experimental development of self-oscillating matter is primarily motivated by the potential use of such systems in emerging technologies (e.g., light engines) comprising compact components and minimum energy consumption. Self-oscillation is the generation of a periodic change in a system fuelled by a steady, non-periodic power source. The […]
spallation Progress in particle physics has traditionally been achieved by a symbiosis of experiments at the energy and intensity frontiers and model-building. This has led to the current situation of the Standard Model (SM) representing our best knowledge of particle physics, but which leaves a number of open questions to be resolved. These include the […]
An international research team has presented a new quantum platform based on the electron spin of single atoms on a solid surface, achieving a ‘multiple qubit (quantum bit)’ system using three electron spins. Unlike previous atomic quantum devices on surfaces where only a single qubit could be controlled, the researchers have successfully demonstrated the ability […]
The intricate relationship between lattice geometry and topological electronic behaviour determines the ground state properties of materials. The non-trivial band topology of the kagome lattice – it consists of the vertices and edges of the trihexagonal tiling – is being extensively explored as candidates to engineer Dirac fermions, topological flat bands, magnetic Weyl semimetals or […]
Global energy demand is expected to rise around 30% by 2040 according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Hydrogen (H2) produced by the electrolysis of water, using renewable electricity, the so-called green hydrogen, has emerged as a promising energy vector to respond to this increasing energy demand with the potential to decarbonize transportation, heating, and […]
Magnons or spin waves are elementary quasiparticles, which represent a collective motion of magnetic moments in ordered systems. Spin waves can propagate in materials and therewith transport a spin current. This spin flow requires no electrical charge transport and therefore no electrical losses creating Joule heating. Spin waves enclose a wide frequency range, from gigahertz […]
We all know what glass is, don’t we? We just point to the nearest window and it is that transparent sheet. Humans have been producing glass for at least 6,000 years, way before they knew how to smelt iron. Actually, the chemistry is well known: to produce window glass we just heat a mixture of […]
Phase transitions and their related phenomena lie at the core of modern statistical mechanics and condensed matter physics. At equilibrium, an intriguing aspect of second-order phase transitions is that systems with distinct order parameters can be described by the same set of static critical exponents, a hallmark of universality. Thomas Kibble’s research on phase transitions […]