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Category: particle physics

Real-time view inside microreactor reveals 2D semiconductor growth secrets

As the miniaturization of silicon-based semiconductor devices approaches fundamental physical limits, the electronics industry faces an urgent need for alternative materials that can deliver higher integration and lower power consumption. Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, which are only a single atom thick, have emerged as promising candidates due to their unique electronic and optical properties. However, despite intense research interest, controlling the growth of high-quality 2D semiconductor crystals has remained a major scientific and technological challenge.

A research team led by Research Associate Professor Hiroo Suzuki from the Department of Electrical and Communication Engineering at Okayama University, Japan, together with Dr. Kaoru Hisama from Shinshu University and Dr. Shun Fujii from Keio University, has now overcome a key barrier by directly observing how these materials grow at the atomic scale. Using an advanced in situ observation system, the researchers captured real-time images of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) forming inside a micro-confined reaction space. The study was published on December 12, 2025, in the journal Advanced Science.

The work builds on earlier success by the team in synthesizing large-area monolayer TMDC single crystals using a substrate-stacked microreactor. While that method consistently produced high-quality materials, the mechanisms governing crystal growth inside the confined space were poorly understood.

AI streamlines deluge of data from particle collisions

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a novel artificial intelligence (AI)-based method to dramatically tame the flood of data generated by particle detectors at modern accelerators. The new custom-built algorithm uses a neural network to intelligently compress collision data, adapting automatically to the density or “sparsity” of the signals it receives.

As described in a paper just published in the journal Patterns, the scientists used simulated data from sPHENIX, a particle detector at Brookhaven Lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), to demonstrate the algorithm’s potential to handle trillions of bits of detector data per second while preserving the fine details physicists need to explore the building blocks of matter.

The algorithm will help physicists gear up for a new era of streaming data acquisition, where every collision is recorded without pre-selecting which ones might be of interest. This will vastly expand the potential for more accurate measurements and unanticipated discoveries.

Natural magnetic materials can control light in unprecedented ways

Imagine shining a flashlight into a material and watching the light bend backward—or in an entirely unexpected direction—as if defying the law of physics. This phenomenon, known as negative refraction, could transform imaging, telecommunications, and countless other technologies. Now, a team of scientists has managed to use a natural magnetic material called CrSBr to achieve negative refraction—without the need for complicated artificial structures. The study, published in Nature Nanotechnology, opens the door to ultra-compact lenses, super-high-resolution microscopes, and reconfigurable optical devices that can be controlled with magnets.

The researchers used a very thin layer of CrSBr, a material that has a unique magnetic structure—its magnetic atoms align in different ways within and between layers. This magnetic order changes how the material interacts with light. When the magnetic order is active, it causes light to bend “the wrong way,” creating negative refraction.

By guiding light into this material on a tiny chip, the team visually confirmed the backward bending of light. They also built a miniature “hyperlens” —a device that can focus light into extremely small spots—an essential step for future high-precision imaging and data processing.

Real-time single-event position detection using high-radiation-tolerance GaN

Silicon semiconductors are widely used as particle detectors; however, their long-term operation is constrained by performance degradation in high-radiation environments. Researchers at University of Tsukuba have demonstrated real-time, two-dimensional position detection of individual charged particles using a gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor with superior radiation tolerance.

Silicon (Si)-based devices are widely used in electrical and electronic applications; however, prolonged exposure to high radiation doses leads to performance degradation, malfunction, and eventual failure. These limitations create a strong demand for alternative semiconductor materials capable of operating reliably in harsh environments, including high-energy accelerator experiments, nuclear-reactor containment systems, and long-duration lunar or deep-space missions.

Wide-bandgap semiconductors, characterized by strong atomic bonding, offer the radiation tolerance required under such conditions. Among these materials, gallium nitride (GaN)—commonly employed in blue light-emitting diodes and high-frequency, high-power electronic devices—has not previously been demonstrated in detectors capable of two-dimensional particle-position sensing for particle and nuclear physics applications.

Massive Quantum Leap: New Tech Could Enable 100,000-Qubit Computers

They combined optical tweezers with metasurfaces to trap more than 1,000 atoms, with the potential to capture hundreds of thousands more. Quantum computers will only surpass classical machines if they can operate with far more quantum bits, known as qubits. Today’s most advanced systems contain r

SOME PHYSICISTS SUGGEST GRAVITY ISN’T A FORCE AT ALL — BUT A QUANTUM ECHO OF ENTANGLEMENT

Gravity is the most familiar force in human experience, yet it remains the least understood at a fundamental level. Despite centuries of study—from Newton’s law of universal gravitation to Einstein’s general theory of relativity—gravity stubbornly resists unification with quantum mechanics. In recent decades, this tension has led some physicists to propose a radical rethinking of gravity’s nature. According to these ideas, gravity may not be a fundamental force at all, but instead an emergent effect arising from quantum entanglement and the flow of information in spacetime.

This perspective represents a profound conceptual shift. Rather than treating gravity as something particles “exert” on one another, these theories suggest it emerges statistically, much like temperature arises from the collective motion of atoms. This article examines the scientific foundations of this idea, the key theoretical frameworks supporting it, and the evidence—both suggestive and incomplete—that motivates such claims. By analyzing gravity through quantum, thermodynamic, and informational lenses, we gain insight into one of the most ambitious research directions in modern theoretical physics.

The Standard Model of particle physics successfully describes three of the four fundamental interactions: electromagnetism, the weak force, and the strong force. Gravity, however, remains outside this framework. Attempts to quantize gravity using the same methods applied to other forces lead to mathematical infinities that cannot be renormalized.

Ultrafast Movie Reveals Unexpected Plasma Behavior

Using a camera with 2-picosecond time resolution, researchers show that the atoms in a laser-induced plasma are more highly ionized than theory predicts.

With an astonishing 500 billion frames per second, a new movie captures the evolution of a laser-induced plasma, revealing that its atoms have lost more electrons—and thus have stronger interactions within the plasma—than models predict [1]. The movie relies on a ten-year-old technology, called compressed ultrafast photography (CUP), that packs all the information for hundreds of movie frames into a single image. The results suggest that models of plasma formation may need revising, which could have implications for inertial-confinement-fusion experiments, such as those at the National Ignition Facility in California.

Dense plasmas occur in many astrophysical settings and laboratory experiments. Their behavior is difficult to predict, as they often change on picosecond (10−12 s) timescales. A traditional method for probing this behavior is to use a streak camera, which collects a movie on a single image by capturing a small slice of each movie frame. “It’s one picture, but every line occurs at a different time,” explains John Koulakis from UCLA. He and his colleagues have used streak cameras to study anomalous behavior in plasmas [2], but the small region of plasma visible with this technique left doubts about what they were seeing, he says.

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