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Researchers at the University of Sheffield have revolutionised the electron microscope by developing a new method which could create the highest resolution images ever seen.

(PhysOrg.com) -- The past decade has seen the emergence of the field of spintronics, aimed at increasing the efficiency of information processing and computer memories. The idea behind spintronics is to harness the magnetic property of the electron, referred to as its spin. This property can then be used, in addition to the electron charge, for increasing the functionality of the semiconductor computer chip, in terms of its capacity to store and process information.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Conventional scientific wisdom says that the interatomic forces between ions that control high-temperature processes such as melting are insensitive to the heating of the electron "glue" that binds the ions together. In effect, traditional atomistic simulations ignore electron temperature completely.

The ultimately strong electron-electron interaction in metal is realized in the so-called heavy-fermion compound containing rare earth elements, in which the electron effective mass is enhanced by a few hundred times the free electron mass.

A novel type of inter-particle binding predicted in 1970 and observed for the first time in 2006, is forming the basis for an intriguing kind of ultracold quantum chemistry. Chilled to nano-kelvin temperatures, cesium atoms -- three at a time -- come together to form a bound state hundreds or even thousands of times larger than individual atoms. Unlike the case of ordinary atoms, wherein electrons are bound to a nucleus in a spectrum of energy levels on the order of an electron volt (that is, it would typically take an eV of energy to free the electron), the cesium triplets feature energy levels that are measured in trillionths of an electron volt (peV)

International collaboration including MPQ scientists sets a new value for the antiproton mass relative to the electron with unprecedented precision.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Daresbury science park in Britain have offered a glimpse into what might be the future of nuclear energy production by showcasing a scaled down particle accelerator; one, that when combined with others just like it, could produce nuclear energy based on thorium, rather than uranium. Dubbed the Electron Machine with Many Applications (EMMA), the accelerator, a much smaller version of the kind used in physics research, such as the Large Hadron Collider, could be used to provide an accelerated beam necessary for the type of nuclear reaction used in a theoretical thorium plant.

RIKEN and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) have successfully produced a first beam of X-ray laser light with a wavelength of 1.2 Angstroms.

By Edwin Cartlidge of Nature magazine Now that's precision measurement: the electron is a perfect sphere, give or take barely one part in a million billion. The result comes from the latest in a long line of experiments to probe the shape of the fundamental particle that carries electrical charge. [More]

A new software called QED (Quantitative Electron Diffraction), which has been licensed by Max Planck Innovation, has now been released by HREM Research Inc., a Japan based company, which is developing products and services in the field of High-Resolution Electron Microscopy. QED allows transmission electron microscopes to acquire novel kinds of data, opening up new possibilities in electron crystallography.

RIKEN and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) have cut the ribbon on a new cutting-edge X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facility in Harima, the first such facility in Japan and only the second in the whole world. Nicknamed "SACLA" (SPring-8 Angstrom Compact Free Electron Laser), the new XFEL's intense beams will open a unique window onto the minuscule structure of molecules and rapid reaction of chemical species.