Button to scroll to the top of the page.

News

From the College of Natural Sciences
Physics

Physics

Subscribe to this category Subscribe via RSS
Physics

Markert Wins Hamilton Book Award

AUSTIN, Texas — The winners of this year's University Co-op Robert W. Hamilton Book Awards, among the highest honors of literary achievement given to published authors at The University of Texas at Austin, were announced Wednesday, Oct. 22, at the Four Seasons Hotel. Michael H. Granof, chairman of the University Co-operative Society, hosted the e...
Physics

Q & A with Michael Marder

Michael Marder is a physics professor a co-director of UTeach How long have you been interested in science education? In a way, since I was young. I grew up in Champaign-Urbana, and at the time, the University of Illinois was trying a number of radical education experiments, and I was part of them. In eighth and ninth grade, for instance, I was i...marder_illustration_web
Physics

Supersonic Sharpshooter

Mark Raizen and his research group can now stop over 85 percent of the atoms in the periodic table and many molecules. That means big-named, important elements can now be controlled, and in fact, Raizen has already proven it with molecular oxygen. “Our methods open up whole new avenues of research,” says Raizen, professor of physics. The tool he us...supersonic shooter
Invisible Waves Shape Continental Slope
Physics

Invisible Waves Shape Continental Slope

AUSTIN, Texas—A class of powerful, invisible waves hidden beneath the surface of the ocean can shape the underwater edges of continents and contribute to ocean mixing and climate, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have found. The scientists simulated ocean conditions in a laboratory aquarium and found that “internal waves” generat...
Tags:
Physical Science Climate Change
Physics

Splitting Light Could Improve Telecommunication Networks

AUSTIN, Texas--A new method for speeding and slowing a pulse of light simultaneously could lead to much faster optical telecommunication networks and more efficient optic-based computers. In a paper published in Physical Review A, University of Texas at Austin physicists Pablo Bianucci, Ken Shih and Gennady Shvets report the first ever demonstrati...
Tags:
Physical Science Quantum Physics Materials Science
Physics

Most Powerful Laser In The World Fires Up

Dr. Todd Ditmire, director of the Texas Center for High-Intensity Laser Science.AUSTIN, Texas—The Texas Petawatt laser reached greater than one petawatt of laser power on Monday morning, March 31, making it the highest powered laser in the world, Todd Ditmire, a physicist at The University of Texas at Austin, said. The Texas Petawatt is the only o...Dr. Todd Ditmire, director of the Texas Center for High-Intensity Laser Science.
Controlling Most Atoms Now Possible
Physics

Controlling Most Atoms Now Possible

AUSTIN, Texas—Stopping and cooling most of the atoms of the periodic table is now possible using a pair of techniques developed by physicist Mark Raizen at The University of Texas at Austin. Raizen stopped atoms by passing a supersonic beam through an “atomic coilgun” and cooled them using “single-photon cooling.” The techniques are a major step ...
Tags:
Particle Physics Quantum Physics
Physics

Liquid Bounce

Physics graduate student Matt Thrasher and Professor Harry Swinney recently explored the phenomenon of liquid bouncing, where a falling stream of liquid bounces off the surface of the same liquid. In the video, you will see a stream of silicone oil after it has dropped into a tank of the same oil. The long stream of oil stretches to the right und...
Atomic Coilgun Used to Slow and Stop Atoms
Physics

Atomic Coilgun Used to Slow and Stop Atoms

AUSTIN, Texas—An atomic coilgun that slows and stops atoms has been developed, report physicists from The University of Texas at Austin in the New Journal of Physics. Dr. Mark Raizen and his colleagues used the new coilgun to slow neon atoms, and Raizen said that the method could be used with a wide variety of atoms. “Our method will be applicabl...
Tags:
Particle Physics Physical Science
Physics

Nanoparticle Technique Could Lead to Improved Semiconductors

AUSTIN, Texas—Devices made from plastic semiconductors, like solar cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), could be improved based on information gained using a new nanoparticle technique developed at The University of Texas at Austin. As electrical charges travel through plastic semiconductors, they can be trapped much like a marble rolling on a ...
Physics

Complex Flows of Turbulence Visualized

AUSTIN, Texas--The convoluted tangle describing turbulence has been visualized for the first time by a group of researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Their work, published in the April 6 issue of Physical Review Letters, may ultimately help engineers design more efficient planes, ca...
Physics

Physicists Slow and Control Supersonic Helium Beam

AUSTIN, Texas—The speed of a beam of helium atoms can be controlled and slowed using an “atomic paddle” much as a tennis player uses a racquet to control tennis balls, physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered. The slow helium beam technique—a breakthrough in the field of atom optics—could someday be used to better probe micr...
Physics

Team of Theoretical Physicists Develop A Test for String Theory

AUSTIN, Texas—For decades, many scientists have criticized string theory, pointing out that it does not make predictions by which it can be tested. Now, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of California, San Diego and The University of Texas at Austin have developed a test of string theory. Their test, described in the Jan. 2...
Physics

New superlens reveals hidden nanostructures

AUSTIN, Texas—A microscope used to scan nanostructures can be dramatically enhanced by using a ‘superlens,’ reports an international team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry and The University of Texas at Austin in this week’s issue of Science. This is the first time a superlens, a lens capable of creating images of ob...
Finding about cellular microtubule rigidity could lead to development of new nano-materials
Physics

Finding about cellular microtubule rigidity could lead to development of new nano-materials

AUSTIN, Texas—Microtubules, essential structural elements in living cells, grow stiffer as they grow longer, an unexpected property that could lead to advances in nano-materials development, an international team of biophysicists has found. The team, from The University of Texas at Austin, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidel...
Tags:
Physical Science Materials Science