News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

Harvard researchers are exploring the possibility of using an infrared frequency comb to generate elusive terahertz frequencies. These frequencies -- which lie in the electromagnetic spectrum between radio waves and infrared light -- have long promised to transform communications and sensing but are very challenging to source. By harnessing a recently discovered laser state, SEAS researchers have discovered an infrared frequency comb in a quantum cascade laser that offers a new way to generate terahertz frequencies.

An international team of researchers has proposed a new way to make atoms or ions indistinguishable by swapping their positions. These particles are then expected to exhibit exotic properties. The study involved physicists from the University of Bonn, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the University of California. The work has now been published in Physical Review Letters.

Researchers from SUTD developed a highly accurate single cell sorting technology using focused sound waves. This new technology enables rapid and accurate isolation of single cells from complex biological samples, which will facilitate the broad application of single cell analysis toward precision medicine.

One of the secrets to making tiny laser devices such as opthalmic surgery scalpels work even more efficiently is the use of tiny semiconductor particles, called quantum dots. In new research at Los Alamos National Laboratory's Nanotech Team, the ~nanometer-sized dots are being doctored, or 'doped,' with additional electrons, a treatment that nudges the dots ever closer to producing the desired laser light with less stimulation and energy loss.

To make long, strong and conductive carbon nanotube fibers, it's best to start with long nanotubes, according to scientists at Rice University.

A new method that precisely measures the mysterious behavior and magnetic properties of electrons flowing across the surface of quantum materials could open a path to next-generation electronics. A team of scientists has developed an innovative microscopy technique to detect the spin of electrons in topological insulators, a new kind of quantum material that could be used in applications such as spintronics and quantum computing.