news 2024

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a laser that produces the strongest ultra-short laser pulses to date. In the future, such high power pulses could be used for precision measurements or materials processing. The word laser usually conjures up an image of a strongly concentrated and continuous light beam.

Catalysts belonging to the zeolite family help to remove toxic nitrogen oxides from industrial emissions. Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have now discovered that their complex nano porous structure is crucial. Specifically, individual iron atoms sitting in certain neighbouring pores communicate with each other, thereby driving the desired reaction.

Geneva, 25 September 2024. At a seminar held at CERN this week, the NA62 collaboration reported the unequivocal confirmation of the ultra-rare decay of a positively charged kaon into a positively charged pion and a neutrino-antineutrino pair. Experiments including NA62 have previously measured and seen evidence of this process, but this is the first time it has been measured with a statistical significance of five standard deviations , crossing the threshold traditionally required to claim a discovery in particle physics.

The experiment at CERN is the latest to weigh in on the mass of the W boson - an elementary particle that, along with the Z boson , mediates the weak force, which is responsible for a form of radioactivity and initiates the nuclear fusion reaction that powers the Sun. At a seminar held at CERN today, the CMS collaboration reported how it has analysed proton-proton collision data from the second run of the Large Hadron Collider , the Laboratory's flagship particle accelerator, to make its first mass measurement of this fundamental particle.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have managed to make sound waves travel only in one direction. In the future, this method could also be used in technical applications with electromagnetic waves. Be it water, light or sound: waves usually propagate in the same way forwards as in the backward direction. As a consequence, when we are speaking to someone standing some distance away from us, that person can hear us as well as we can hear them.

Previously thought to be negligible, the Sun-s magnetic activity is influencing the determination of its seismic age, as shown by a study published by an international team led by a researcher from the University of Geneva. An international team of astronomers, led by a researcher from the University of Geneva , has shown that the Sun-s magnetic activity has a significant influence on its seismic characterisation, contrary to predictions in the literature.

In the USA, the world's most extensive neutrino experiment, DUNE, is being built at Fermilab. The University of Bern is playing a key role in this by developing the "ND-LAr" detector, which features new technology and an innovative design to observe neutrinos. The prototype of the "ND-LAr" has now been successfully tested and has detected its first neutrinos.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have been improving the resolution of a process known as photolithography. They hope to use their technique to help advance the miniaturisation of computer chips. Miniaturising computer chips is one of the keys to the digital revolution. It allows computers to become ever smaller and, at the same time, more powerful.

Scientists have developed an AI-based technique to improve chemical analysis of nanomaterials, overcoming challenges of noisy data and mixed signals. "Nanomaterials" is a broad term used to describe chemical substances or materials in which a single unit is sized between 1 and 100 nanometers (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter).

Researchers have published a programmable framework that overcomes a key computational bottleneck of optics-based artificial intelligence systems. In a series of image classification experiments, they used scattered light from a low-power laser to perform accurate, scalable computations using a fraction of the energy of electronics.

In a collaboration with EPFL Lausanne, ETH Zurich and the University of Southern California researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have used X-rays to look inside a microchip with higher precision than ever before. The image resolution of 4 nanometres marks a new world record. The high-resolution three-dimensional images of the type they produced will enable advances in both information technology and the life sciences.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and the Australian National University have re-determined the half-life of samarium-146 with great precision. The result fits perfectly with the data astrophysicists and geochemists have obtained from extraterrestrial samples. The study appears today in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

A team including researchers from the Laboratory for High Energy Physics at the University of Bern has successfully measured the interaction rates of neutrinos at unprecedented energies using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. A better understanding of these elusive elementary particles can help answer the question of why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe.

Researchers from the University of Basel have looked at how the ferromagnetic properties of electrons in the two-dimensional semiconductor molybdenum disulfide can be better understood. They revealed a surprisingly simple way of measuring the energy needed to flip an electron spin. Ferromagnetism is an important physical phenomenon that plays a key role in many technologies.

EPFL engineers have created a device that can efficiently convert heat into electrical voltage at temperatures lower than that of outer space. The innovation could help overcome a significant obstacle to the advancement of quantum computing technologies, which require extremely low temperatures to function optimally.

Researchers at EPFL have discovered that by shining different wavelengths of light on a material called magnetite, they can change its state, making it more or less conducive to electricity. This could lead to the development of innovative materials for electronics. Magnetite is the oldest and strongest natural magnet.

Researchers have succeeded in directing floating objects around an aquatic obstacle course using only soundwaves. Their novel, optics-inspired method holds great promise for biomedical applications such as noninvasive targeted drug delivery. In 2018, Arthur Ashkin won the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing optical tweezers : laser beams that can be used to manipulate microscopic particles.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have shown that quantum states of single electron spins can be controlled by currents of electrons whose spins are evenly aligned. In the future, this method could be used in electronic circuit elements. Electrons have an intrinsic angular momentum, the so-called spin, which means that they can align themselves along a magnetic field, much like a compass needle.

Scientists, through the VELOCE project, have clocked the speed of Cepheid stars - "standard candles" that help us measure the size of the universe - with unprecedented precision, offering exciting new insights about them. Photo: RS Puppis , one of the most luminous Cepheid variable star s, rhythmically brightens and dims over a six-week cycle.

Scientists at EPFL have successfully miniaturized a powerful erbium-based biber laser on a silicon-nitride photonic chip. Since typical erbium-based fiber lasers are large and difficult to scale down, the breakthrough promises major advances in optical communications and sensing technologies. Lasers have revolutionized the world since the 60's and are now indispensable in modern applications, from cutting-edge surgery and precise manufacturing to data transmission across optical fibers.