Apply an electric field to a material, and its positive and negative charges will separate, creating an electric polarization. This is the fundamental effect behind capacitors used in electronics as well as in ferroelectrics used in some computer memories. In the latter case, to achieve a permanent electric polarization, the positive and negative charges need [...]
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The very fabric of research: a visit to the ILL in Grenoble
September 20, 2010
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You look down into a clear pool of water. The water has an appealing blue glow to it that makes you want to dive into it. But this isn’t a swimming pool, it is a nuclear reactor. And the soothing blue glow is not due to the blue paint of the pool walls but caused [...]
Read moreMore cool polariton stuff
September 17, 2010
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Earlier this week I wrote about some of the exciting polaritons in semiconductors. And just a few days later, there is another intriguing paper on this topic out. Something that I speculate(!) might lead to new types of quantum computers. But to recapitulate, polaritons are object that form when light interacts with electronic excitations. What I [...]
Read moreThe cool side of semiconductors
September 14, 2010
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Ultracold atoms might no longer be the only hot game in the town of cold condensates. A few weeks ago I highlighted the analogies between the science of ultracold atoms and other areas of physics, down to lasers even. Now meet the new kids on the block: the polaritons. Even though they sound more like [...]
Read moreUltracold atoms as model systems
August 19, 2010
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One of the fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics is that objects can be described as waves, whether they are electrons, atoms, light, anything really, even your cat (or that of Erwin Schrödinger). And of course, if the equations that describe their wavefunctions are identical, objects will behave in the same way. Even if they are [...]
Read moreClose encounters with outer shells
August 5, 2010
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If you look at the image of an atom in a text book, it looks rather quiet and peaceful. There is a nucleus in the center made from a number of protons and neutrons. Around the nucleus the electrons typically are shown to orbit the core like planets around the sun. The reality, however, is [...]
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Welcome to my personal blog, where I write about the latest exciting developments in the physical sciences. As editor at one of the leading scientific journals in the physical sciences I bring my own perspective to the latest trends in the field.
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- Great, the physics Nobel prize for graphene! Now don’t overhype it…
- Science in the age of austerity
- Transparency in peer review
- Semiconductor optical switches reach the speed of light
- What are the realistic promises of metamaterials and cloaking?
- The air is getting thinner for silicon’s competitors
- High-risk research can’t be kept secret forever
- The economics of science
- Decisions, decisions
- Transistors reach the single atom limit
- Why fancy illustrations are so wrong
- From ‘abbreviations’ to ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’
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- ResearchBlogging.org News » Blog Archive » Editor’s Selections: Dropout electrons, Single-atom transistors, and Apple/Cracker Pie: [...] continues in the field of quantum computing....
