Category archives: Physics

A new source of X-ray fluorescence for art

A new source of X-ray fluorescence for art

ChemistryPhysics

By Invited Researcher

A lthough unfortunately it takes place in rare situations, the synergies between scientific and artistic disciplines offer a vast number of possible applications. The benefits are clear: on one hand artists, conservators and restorers profit from the detailed knowledge about matter and its natural transformation processes that Science provides, and on the other hand, scientists […]

Graphene nanodrum solos

Graphene nanodrum solos

Condensed matterMaterialsNanotechnologyPhysics

By Francisco R. Villatoro

Luthiers still use Chladni figures in the design and construction of acoustic instruments such as violins, guitars, and cellos. The technique invented by the German physicist and musician Ernst Chladni (1756–1827) shows the modes of vibration under forcing. The backplate of the instrument is covered with flour or sand, and bowed until it reached resonance […]

The loophole-free quantum entanglement experiment (5): The Delft experiment

The loophole-free quantum entanglement experiment (5): The Delft experiment

Philosophy of sciencePhysicsQuantum physics

By Daniel Manzano

In previous posts, we have reviewed the different loopholes of Bell experiments. To make a long story short, entanglement experiments are based on measuring some magnitudes in two quantum systems, calculating a value based on the outcomes of these measurements, and if this value goes beyond a certain threshold we can say that the universe […]

Penta-graphene: to be or not to be

Penta-graphene: to be or not to be

ChemistryCondensed matterMaterialsPhysicsQuantum physics

By Francisco R. Villatoro

Graphene is a two-dimensional allotrope of carbon made of hexagons. In February 2015, penta-graphene, only made of pentagons, was theoretically proposed as another two-dimensional allotrope of carbon . Apparently, it is dynamically, thermally, and mechanically stable, exhibiting a large band gap (graphene is gapless). However, an exhaustive experimental search has been inconclusive, resulting in doubts […]

An ideal candidate to investigate nanoscale ferromagnets and exotic interfaces

An ideal candidate to investigate nanoscale ferromagnets and exotic interfaces

ChemistryCondensed matterPhysicsQuantum physics

By DIPC

In order to study new solid state magnetic properties appropiate new laboratory models are needed. In particular, there is a necessity for a substrate to investigate new forms of magnetic coupling with nanoscale ferromagnets and the exotic physics at the interface with semiconductor or superconductor materials. Now a team of researchers from DIPC and some […]

Itinerant ferromagnetism at the surface of an antiferromagnet

Itinerant ferromagnetism at the surface of an antiferromagnet

Condensed matterMaterialsNanotechnologyPhysicsQuantum physics

By DIPC

Silicon surfaces of crystalline solids are part of conventional electronics, but their exploitation in novel materials combining two-dimensional electron states (2DESs) and magnetism, which play an important role in the development of next-generation electronics, still remains elusive. The appearance of 2DESs at surfaces or interfaces and their interplay with magnetic degrees of freedom may open […]

The loophole-free quantum entanglement experiment (4): The free will loophole

The loophole-free quantum entanglement experiment (4): The free will loophole

Philosophy of sciencePhysicsQuantum physics

By Daniel Manzano

In previous posts, we have discussed the two main loopholes of Bell experiments, the locality loophole, and the detection loophole. Both were closed a long time ago, but only recently they were closed in the same experiment. Let us summarize the kind of experiments we are dealing with by an example. Alice and Bob will […]