Playing a different sound track is, physically speaking, only a minute change of the vibration spectrum, yet its impact on a dance floor is dramatic. People long for this tiny trigger, and as a salsa changes to a tango completely different collective patterns emerge. For such a tiny stimulus to have...

Researchers have discovered that thin films of elemental bismuth exhibit the so-called non-linear Hall effect, which could be applied in technologies for the controlled use of terahertz high-frequency signals on electronic chips. Bismuth combines several advantageous properties not found in other...

Biomedical researchers have developed a new, less expensive way to detect nuclease digestion -- one of the critical steps in many nucleic acid sensing applications, such as those used to identify COVID-19 and other infectious diseases....

The simplest possible molecule H2+ was one of the very first molecules to form in the cosmos. This makes it significant for astrophysics, but also an important object of research for fundamental physics. It is difficult to study in experiments. However, a team of physicists has now succeeded in...

Niobium has long been considered an underperformer in superconducting qubits. Scientists have now engineered a high-quality niobium-based qubit, taking advantage of niobium's superior qualities....

Nuclear physicists have shattered a nearly 30-year-old record for precision in electron beam polarimetry. The groundbreaking result sets the stage for high-profile experiments that could open the door to new physics discoveries....

Scientists have decoded the electronic structure of water, opening up new perspectives for technological and environmental applications....

Scientists are closer to unravelling the mysterious forces of the universe after working out how to measure gravity on a microscopic level. Experts have never fully understood how the force works in the tiny quantum world -- but now physicists have successfully detected a weak gravitational pull on...

Scientists have used a new method to determine the characteristics of optical, i.e. light-based, quantum states. For the first time, they are using certain photon detectors -- devices that can detect individual light particles -- for so-called homodyne detection. The ability to characterize optical...

Physicists have reported a new fractional quantum Hall state that is very different from all other known fractional states and will invoke the existence of a new type of emergent particle, which they are calling six-flux composite fermions....