Science

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Hubble Gazes on One Ring to Rule Them All

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NIST Mechanical Micro-Drum Used as Quantum Memory

One of the oldest forms of computer memory is back again—but in a 21st century microscopic device designed by physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for possible use in a quantum computer.

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Colorized image of NIST micro-drum and circuit on a sapphire backing. JILA researchers demonstrated that the drum might be used as a memory device in future quantum computers.

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Smallest Vibration Sensor in the Quantum World

Carbon nanotubes and magnetic molecules are considered building blocks of future nanoelectronic systems. Their electric and mechanical properties play an important role. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and French colleagues from Grenoble and Strasbourg have now found a way to combine both components on the atomic level and to build a quantum mechanical system with novel properties.

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The spin of a molecule (orange) changes and deforms the nanotube (black) mounted between two electrodes (gold).

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'Hot Spots' Ride a Merry-Go-Round on Jupiter

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The dark hot spot in this false-color image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft is a window deep into Jupiter's atmosphere. All around it are layers of higher clouds, with colors indicating which layer of the atmosphere the clouds are in.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-095&rn=news.xml&rst=3726

內湖2021
陳鵬程

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Pluto May Have 10 Undiscovered Moons

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This image, taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, shows five moons orbiting the distant, icy dwarf planet Pluto. The green circle marks the newly discovered moon, designated P5, as photographed by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 on July 7, 2012.

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Surprising Control over Photoelectrons from a Topological Insulator: Berkeley Lab scientists discover how a photon beam can flip the spin polarization of electrons emitted from an exciting new material

Plain-looking but inherently strange crystalline materials called 3D topological insulators (TIs) are all the rage in materials science. Even at room temperature, a single chunk of TI is a good insulator in the bulk, yet behaves like a metal on its surface.

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The interior bulk of a topological insulator is indeed an insulator, but electrons (spheres) move swiftly on the surface as if through a metal. They are spin-polarized, however, with their momenta (directional ribbons) and spins (arrows) locked together. Berkeley Lab researchers have discovered that the spin polarization of photoelectrons (arrowed sphere at upper right) emitted when the material is struck with high-energy photons (blue-green waves from left) is completely determined by the polarization of this incident light.

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Long Predicted Atomic Collapse State Observed in Graphene: Berkeley Lab researchers recreate elusive phenomenon with artificial nuclei

The first experimental observation of a quantum mechanical phenomenon that was predicted nearly 70 years ago holds important implications for the future of graphene-based electronic devices.

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An artificial atomic nucleus made up of five charged calcium dimers is centered in an atomic-collapse electron cloud.

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NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars

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Two Different Aqueous Environments
This set of images compares rocks seen by NASA's Opportunity rover and Curiosity rover at two different parts of Mars. On the left is " Wopmay" rock, in Endurance Crater, Meridiani Planum, as studied by the Opportunity rover.

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NASA Pinpoints Causes of 2011 Arctic Ozone Hole

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Maps of ozone concentrations over the Arctic come from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite. The left image shows March 19, 2010, and the right shows the same date in 2011. March 2010 had relatively high ozone, while March 2011 has low levels.

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Herschel gets to the bottom of black-hole jets

Astronomers using ESA's Herschel space observatory have detected emission from the base of black-hole jets for the first time. While studying the black-hole binary system GX 339-4 in a multi-wavelength observation campaign, they noticed changes in the source's X-ray and radio emissions signalling the onset of powerful jets being released from the black hole's vicinity. This prompted the astronomers to observe the source at far-infrared wavelengths with Herschel. As the first observation of emission from jets in a black-hole binary system at these wavelengths, the data have allowed the astronomers to probe the jets down to their base, where the far-infrared emission originates. Herschel's contribution to the multi-wavelength observations has proved a crucial addition to the understanding of black-hole jets and of the physical processes that take place very close to a black hole.

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Artist's impression of the GX 339-4 black-hole binary system.