New research focused on the quantum structure of elements under extreme conditions has implications for understanding Earth’s evolution, interpreting unusual seismic signals, and even the study of exoplanets for insights into habitability.
Tag: ultrafast science
Lighting Up Ultrafast Magnetism in a Metal Oxide
Scientists studied what happens when very short pulses of laser light strike a magnetic material. Understanding how magnetic correlations change over short timescales is the first step in being able to control magnetism for applications.
SLAC’s Xijie Wang wins prestigious accelerator science award
Xijie Wang, an accelerator physicist at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, will receive the 2021 Nuclear and Plasma Science Society’s Particle Accelerator Science and Technology Award. Bestowed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the prestigious award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the development of particle accelerator science and technology.
In a step forward for orbitronics, scientists break the link between a quantum material’s spin and orbital states
Until now, electron spins and orbitals were thought to go hand in hand in a class of materials that’s the cornerstone of modern information technology; you couldn’t quickly change one without changing the other. This study raises the possibility of controlling them separately.
First direct look at how light excites electrons to kick off a chemical reaction
The first step in many light-driven chemical reactions, like the ones that power photosynthesis and human vision, is a shift in the arrangement of a molecule’s electrons as they absorb the light’s energy. Now scientists have directly observed this first step.