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(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a collaboration of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland-College Park, have for the first time caused a gas of atoms to exhibit an important quantum phenomenon known as spin-orbit coupling. Their technique opens new possibilities for studying and better understanding fundamental physics and has potential applications to quantum computing, next-generation "spintronics" devices and even "atomtronic" devices built from ultracold atoms.

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the subjects of immense interest to scientists (and non-scientists as well) is the development of quantum computers. However, there are many challenges associated with quantum computing. One of the difficulties to achieving practical quantum computing is related to the way the quantum bits (qubits) that make up a quantum computer are connected together.

With CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) now being fired up after its winter shutdown, physicists at the Geneva lab are gearing up for the first signs of the Higgs boson -- the never-before-seen particle that is one of the LHC's main goals.

A research group led by scientists from the University of Bristol has demonstrated the quantum operation of new components that will enable compact circuits for future photonic quantum computers.

Scientists now have a better understanding of why spider silk fibers are so incredibly strong. Recent research, published by Cell Press on February 15th in Biophysical Journal, describes the architecture of silk fibers from the atomic level up and reveals new information about the molecular structure that underlies the amazing mechanical characteristics of this fascinating natural material.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Among the many intriguing concepts in Einstein’s relativity theories is the idea of closed timelike curves (CTCs), which are paths in spacetime that return to their starting points. As such, CTCs offer the possibility of traveling back in time.

Much of the world’s information is stored in memories consisting of magnetic domains, and researchers continue to develop new domain arrangements to enable smaller and faster such memories.

New York University physicists have developed a method for packing microscopic spheres that could lead to improvements in commercial products ranging from pharmaceutical lotions to ice cream. Their work, which relies on an innovative application of statistical mechanics, appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Rare earths are an expensive and necessary component of strong permanent magnets.

(PhysOrg.com) -- With worldwide Internet data traffic increasing by 50 percent each year, telecommunications companies that handle this digital torrent must be able to economically expand the capacities of their networks while also adapting to new, more-efficient data-handling technologies.

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists led by John Badding, a professor of chemistry at Penn State University, has developed the very first optical fiber made with a core of zinc selenide -- a light-yellow compound that can be used as a semiconductor. The new class of optical fiber, which allows for a more effective and liberal manipulation of light, promises to open the door to more versatile laser-radar technology. Such technology could be applied to the development of improved surgical and medical lasers, better countermeasure lasers used by the military, and superior environment-sensing lasers such as those used to measure pollutants and to detect the dissemination of bioterrorist chemical agents

Exotic entities that arrange into a crystalline structure at near room-temperature could lead to a new approach to electronic memory.

In addition to flows of electrons, researchers are seeking options for the spin of electrons to be used in future information processing.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Everyone knows that when water freezes, it forms ice. But a lesser known fact is that there is not one, but many different kinds of ice, depending on the way the ice crystals are arranged

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from The Australian National University have developed an atom laser that behaves exactly like a light laser, opening up new possibilities in things like holograms.