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(PhysOrg.com) -- If a practical quantum computer is ever to be realized, conventional electronic devices will have to interface with the delicate quantum systems such as atoms or ions in traps or wisps of magnetism near superconducting sensors.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Of the many exotic and counterintuitive aspects of particle and quantum physics, exciton and polariton quasiparticles are among the most interesting. An exciton forms when a photon is absorbed by a semiconductor as a Coulomb force-bound state of a (negatively-charged) electron and a (positively-charged) hole; this particle pair can be seen as an elementary excitation of condensed matter able to transport energy without the transfer of net electric charge, and moreover has size- and shape-dependent optoelectronic properties

A new advance in solar cells that tips the surface with minuscule cone structures could neutralize manufacturing defects, boosting efficiency up to 80 percent. In conventional solar panels, more than 50 percent of the charges generated by sunlight are lost due to defects, said Jun Xu, a researcher at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The irregularities in the formation of the crystalline structure of solar cells can trap electrons and limit the transfer of sunlight to electrical energy.

Bacteria and archaea--collectively known as prokaryotes--live pretty much everywhere, dividing happily in places from stomach acid to deep-sea vents. They can thrive in so many different places because their genomes are incredibly flexible: they can alter, lose and duplicate genes almost at will