Condensed matter • DIPC Attosecond Physics • Materials • Physics
In 1882, Heinrich Hertz devoted himself to the study of electromagnetism, including the recent and still generally unappreciated work of Maxwell. Two years later he began his famous series of experiments with electromagnetic waves. During the course of this work, Hertz discovered the photoelectric effect, which has had a profound influence on modern physics. The […]
Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is a technique in which a fine conducting probe is held close to the surface of a sample. Electrons tunnel between the sample and the probe, producing an electrical signal. The probe is slowly moved across the surface and raised and lowered so as to keep the signal constant. The precision […]
Quantum simulators—systems that can be engineered and manipulated at will—are useful platforms for verifying model Hamiltonians and understanding more complex or elusive quantum systems. The ability to trap and control particles with the help of well-controlled electromagnetic fields has led to revolutionary advances in the fields of biology, condensed- matter physics, high-precision spectroscopy, and quantum […]
The Mars 2020 rover mission is the next step in robotic exploration of the Red Planet. Unlike Curiosity, Mars 2020 will try to find answers to key questions about the potential for life on Mars, seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life […]
The concept of mean free path is very simple and straightforward: the average distance travelled between collisions by the molecules in a gas, the electrons in a metallic crystal, the neutrons in a moderator, etc. Assuming a couple of things about, for example, how elastic collisions are, it is not difficult to arrive to formulas […]
Man does not live by hardware alone. Indeed, great material and conceptual improvements in the machinery of optical microscopes have occurred in recent decades. The examples are numerous (some example here; https://mappingignorance.org/2013/12/23/bessel-beam-plane-illumination-microscopy-another-smart-solution-for-an-old-challenge/). However, what is being achieved only with software and computing power seems a matter of magic. It is not only that programs and […]
Elements with 4f or 5f electrons in unfilled electron bands and their componuds , which have ions carrying magnetic moments but do not magnetically order, or only do so at very low temperatures, are generally known as heavy-fermion or heavy electron systems because the scattering of the conduction electrons with the magnetic ions results in […]
Condensed matter • Materials • Physics • Quantum physics • Theoretical physics
We all know what an insulator is, don’t we? An insulator is any substance that is a poor conductor of heat and electricity. Both properties ussually occur as a consequence of a lack of mobile electrons.If we want to dive a little deeper into the nature of insulators we make use of energy band theory […]
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 […]
Last February I published my first scientific article as principal author in Physical Review B . This article summarizes a big part of my work as a PhD student, a journey that has not been easy. The first version was sent to the journal a year ago; in between many things happened: new experiments, discussions […]