News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

International team of researchers with participation of the University of Konstanz achieves breakthrough in the area of heat transport at molecular scales

Researchers develop ways to measure and explain heat transport through a single molecule.

Reactive molecular oxygen singlets have a multitude of uses in chemistry and medicine, but they are less abundant than non-reactive oxygen triplets. A multinational research team led by Osaka University has developed a novel method of producing reactive molecular oxygen through controlled, reversible bond formation between two oxygen atoms using atomic force microscopy. In addition, the researchers could alter the charge of individual oxygen atoms, presumably changing oxygen spin in the process.

In a new publication in Nature, University of Utah chemists Jolene Reid and Matthew Sigman show how analyzing previously published chemical reaction data can predict how hypothetical reactions may proceed, narrowing the range of conditions chemists need to explore. Their algorithmic prediction process, which includes aspects of machine learning, can save valuable time and resources in chemical research.

A Japanese research team led by Osaka University produced Fe3O4 nanowires on 10-nm length scales by deposition on an MgO substrate. When cooled to 110 K, the nanowires showed a sharp Verwey transition -- greater resistivity resulting from a change in crystal structure. This switching is essential for nanoelectronics, but hard to achieve in Fe₃O₄ nanowires. It was possible because of the low density of antiphase boundary defects, and will promote advances in green electronic technologies.

Hailed as a pioneer by Photonics Media for his previous discoveries of supercontinuum and Cr tunable lasers, City College of New York Distinguished Professor of Science and Engineering Robert R. Alfano and his research team are claiming another breakthrough with a new super class of photons dubbed 'Majorana photons.' They could lead to enhanced information on quantum-level transition and imaging of the brain and its working.

For some phenomena in quantum many-body physics several competing theories exist. But which of them describes a quantum phenomenon best? A team of researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Harvard University in the United States has now successfully deployed artificial neural networks for image analysis of quantum systems.

Light-induced breakage of chemical bonds can lead to damage in the body and environment, but techniques for studying this photochemical reaction have been limited to before and after snapshots. With attosecond lasers and a technique to probe the energy states of photoexcited molecules, UC Berkeley chemists have made a movie of the process preceding breakup. The technique will help study biological molecules that absorb light without breaking bonds, such as rhodopsin in the retina.