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Category: particle physics – Page 70

The team also studied the direct interaction between charged particles in the solar wind as well as plasma around Mercury and BepiColombo itself. This process is complicated by the fact that when the spacecraft is facing the sun, it is heated and cooled, and heavier charged particles called ions can’t be detected because BepiColombo becomes electrically charged and repels them.

However, when BepiColombo slips into the shadow of Mercury, cool ions in a sea of plasma become detectable. This allowed BepiColombo to see ions of the elements oxygen, sodium and potassium around Mercury. The team thinks these particles originated from the surface of the tiny planet and were launched into space by meteorite strikes or solar wind bombardment.

“It’s like we’re suddenly seeing the surface composition ‘exploded’ in 3D through the planet’s very thin atmosphere, known as its exosphere,” MPPE instrument lead Dominique Delcourt, from the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, said in the statement. “It’s really exciting to start seeing the link between the planet’s surface and the plasma environment.”

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Next-generation technologies, such as leading-edge memory storage solutions and brain-inspired neuromorphic computing systems, could touch nearly every aspect of our lives — from the gadgets we use daily to the solutions for major global challenges. These advances rely on specialized materials, including ferroelectrics — materials with switchable electric properties that enhance performance and energy efficiency.

A research team led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a novel technique for creating precise atomic arrangements in ferroelectrics, establishing a robust framework for advancing powerful new technologies. The findings are published in Nature Nanotechnology (“On-demand nanoengineering of in-plane ferroelectric topologies”).

“Local modification of the atoms and electric dipoles that form these materials is crucial for new information storage, alternative computation methodologies or devices that convert signals at high frequencies,” said ORNL’s Marti Checa, the project’s lead researcher. “Our approach fosters innovations by facilitating the on-demand rearrangement of atomic orientations into specific configurations known as topological polarization structures that may not naturally occur.” In this context, polarization refers to the orientation of small, internal permanent electric fields in the material that are known as ferroelectric dipoles.

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Imposing time-dependent strain on a magnetic disk induces vortex dynamics and offers a path toward energy-efficient spintronic devices.

Nanoscopic magnetic vortices made from electron spins could be used in spintronic computers (see Research News: 3D Magnetism Maps Reveal Exotic Topologies). To this end, researchers need an energy-efficient way to excite these vortices into a so-called gyrotropic mode—an orbital motion of the vortex core around the central point. The direction of this orbital motion would determine which of two binary states the vortex represents. Vadym Iurchuk at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany, and his colleagues have now demonstrated such a method by imposing a time-varying strain on a magnetic material [1].

The excitation of gyration dynamics by an oscillating strain was suggested by a separate team in 2015 [2]. The idea involves depositing a magnetic film, in which magnetic vortices form spontaneously, on a piezoelectric substrate. Applying an alternating voltage to the substrate transfers a time-varying mechanical strain to the film, dynamically perturbing its magnetic texture. This perturbation displaces a vortex core from its equilibrium position, thereby exciting the gyrotropic mode.

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Fusion researchers are increasingly turning to the element tungsten when looking for an ideal material for components that will directly face the plasma inside fusion reactors known as tokamaks and stellarators. But under the intense heat of fusion plasma, tungsten atoms from the wall can sputter off and enter the plasma. Too much tungsten in the plasma would substantially cool it, which would make sustaining fusion reactions very challenging.

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New software simulates complex wave scattering for metamaterial design. Could invisibility cloaks become a reality? New research brings this science fiction concept a step closer, with a breakthrough software package that simulates how waves interact with complex materials.

A new software package developed by researchers at Macquarie University can accurately model the way waves — sound, water or light — are scattered when they meet complex configurations of particles.

This will vastly improve the ability to rapidly design metamaterials — exciting artificial materials used to amplify, block or deflect waves.

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Microwaves can control and stabilize diamond qubits, addressing their main challenge:

Researchers from Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have devised a method to precisely control diamond qubits using microwaves.

In case you’re wondering what is a diamond qubit, here’s a simple explanation —When a tin atom replaces a carbon atom in a diamond lattice, it leads to the creation of tin vacancy (SnV) centers.

The SnV centers are defects with exceptional optical and electronic properties, and therefore they can be used as qubits. Since these qubits result from defects in diamond lattices, they are called diamond qubits.

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