Even the makers of the Guardian Cap admit it looks silly. But for a sport facing an existential brain-injury crisis, once unthinkable solutions have now become almost normal.
Diverticulitis is a common condition that affects digestive health. Learn the causes and symptoms and get the best tips for managing and preventing flare-ups.
Earlier this year, the start of the Paris Olympics was marked by the ceremonial relay of the Olympic torch. You’ll have to wait until 2028 for the next Olympics, but in the meantime there’s the International Year of Quantum (IYQ) in 2025, which also features a torch relay. In keeping with the quantum theme, however, this light source is very, very small.
The light source is currently on tour around 12 different quantum labs around Europe as part of IYQ and last week I visited the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, UK, where it was on stop eight of what’s dubbed QuanTour. It’s a project of the German Physical Society (DPG), organised by Doris Reiter from the Technical University of Dortmund and Tobias Heindel from the Technical University of Berlin.
According to Mete Atatüre, who leads the Quantum Optical Materials and Systems (QOMS) group at Cambridge and in whose lab QuanTour is based, one of the project’s aims is to demystify quantum science. “I think what we need to do, especially in the year of quantum, is to have a change of style.” he says. “So that we focus not on the weirdness of quantum but on what it can actually bring us.”
Indeed, though it requires complex optical apparatus and must be cooled with helium, the Quantour light source itself looks like an ordinary computer chip. It is in fact an array of quantum dots, each emitting single photons when illuminated by a laser. “It’s really meant to show off that you can use quantum dots as a plug in light source” explains Christian Schimpf, a postdoc in the Quantum Engineering Group in Cambridge, who showed me around the lab where QuanTour is spending its time in England.
The light source is right at home in the Cambridge lab, where quantum dots are a key area of research. The team is working on networking applications, where the goal is to transmit quantum information over long distances, preferably using existing fibre-optic networks. In fibre optics, the signal is amplified regularly along the route, but quantum networks can’t do this – the so-called “no-cloning” theorem means it’s impossible to create a copy of an unknown quantum state.
The solution is to create a long-distance communication link from many short-distance entanglements. The challenge for scientists in the Cambridge lab, Schimpf explains, is to build ensembles of entangled qubits that can “store quantum bits on reasonable time scales.” He’s talking about just a few milliseconds, but this is still a significant challenge, requiring cooling close to absolute zero and precise control over the fabrication process.
Elsewhere in the Cavendish Laboratory, scientists in the quantum group are investigating platforms for quantum sensing, where changes to single quantum states are used to measure tiny magnetic fields. Attractive materials for this include diamond and some 2D materials, where quantum spin states trapped at crystal defects can act as qubits. Earlier this year Physics World spoke to Hannah Stern, a former postdoc in Atatüre’s group, who won an award from the Institute of Physics for her research on quantum sensing with hexagonal boron nitride, which she began in Cambridge.
I also spoke to Dorian Gangloff, head of the quantum engineering group, who described his recent work on nonlinear quantum optics. Nonlinear optical effects are generally only observed with high-power light sources such as lasers, but Gangloff’s team is trying to engineer these effects in single photons. Nonlinear quantum optics could be used to shift the frequency of a single photon or even split it into an entangled pair.
When asked about the existing challenges of rolling out quantum technologies, Atatüre points out that when quantum mechanics was first conceived, the belief was: “Of course we’ll never be able to see this effect, but if we did, what would the experimental result look like?” Thanks to decades of work however, it is indeed possible to see quantum science in action, as I did In Cambridge. Atatüre is confident that researchers will be able to take the next step – building useful technologies with quantum phenomena.
At the end of this week, QuanTour’s time in Cambridge will be up. If you missed it, you’ll have to head to University College Cork in Ireland, where it will be spending the next leg of its journey with the group of Emanuele Pelucchi.
LIV.INNO, Liverpool Centre for Doctoral Training for Innovation in Data-Intensive Science, offers students fully-funded PhD studentships across a broad range of research projects from medical physics to quantum computing. All students receive training in high-performance computing, data analysis, and machine learning and artificial intelligence. Students also receive career advice and training in project management, entrepreneurship and communication skills – preparing them for careers outside of academia.
This podcast features the accelerator physicist Carsten Welsch, who is head of the Accelerator Science Cluster at the University of Liverpool and director of LIV.INNO, and the computational astrophysicist Andreea Font who is a deputy director of LIV.INNO.
They chat with Physics World’s Katherine Skipper about how LIV.INNO provides its students with a wide range of skills and experiences – including a six-month industrial placement.
This podcast is sponsored by LIV.INNO, the Liverpool Centre for Doctoral Training for Innovation in Data-Intensive Science.
Magnetic resonance methods, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), are non-invasive, atom-specific, quantitative, and capable of probing liquid and solid-state samples. These features make magnetic resonance ideal tools for operando measurement of an electrochemical device, and for establishing structure-function relationships under realistic condition.
The first part of the talk presents how coupled inline NMR and EPR methods were developed and applied to unravel rich electrochemistry in organic molecule-based redox flow batteries. Case studies performed on low-cost and compact bench-top systems are reviewed, demonstrating that a bench-top NMR has sufficient spectral and temporal resolution for studying degradation reaction mechanisms, monitoring the state of charge, and crossover phenomena in a working RFB. The second part of the talk presents new in situ NMR methods for studying Li-mediated ammonia synthesis, and the direct observation of lithium plating and its concurrent corrosion, nitrogen splitting on lithium metal, and protonolysis of lithium nitride. Based on these insights, potential strategies to optimize the efficiencies and rates of Li-mediated ammonia synthesis are discussed. The goal is to demonstrate that operando NMR and EPR methods are powerful and general and can be applied for understanding the electrochemistry underpinning various applications.
An interactive Q&A session follows the presentation.
Evan Wenbo Zhao is a tenured assistant professor at the Magnetic Resonance Research Center at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen in the Netherlands. His core research focuses on developing operando/in situ NMR methods for studying electrochemical storage and conversion chemistries, including redox flow batteries, electrochemical ammonia synthesis, carbon-dioxide reduction, and lignin oxidation. He has led projects funded by the Dutch Research Council Open Competition Program, Bruker Collaboration, Radboud-Glasgow Collaboration Grants, the Mitacs Globalink Research Award, and others. After receiving his BS from Nanyang Technological University, he completed a PhD in chemistry with Prof. Clifford Russell Bowers at the University of Florida. Evan’s postdoc was with Prof. Dame Clare Grey at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge.
A consortium of universities and companies has been awarded the contract to manage and operate Fermilab, the US’s premier particle-physics facility. The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced on 1 October that the new contractor, Fermi Forward Discovery Group, LLC (FFDV), will take over operation of the lab from 1 January 2025.
FFDV consists of Fermilab’s current contractor – the University of Chicago and Universities Research Association (URA), a consortium of research universities – as well as the industrial firms Amentum Environment & Energy, Inc. and Longenecker & Associates. The conglomerate’s initial contract will last for five years but “exemplary performance” running the lab could extend that by a further decade.
“We are honoured that the Department of Energy has selected FermiForward to manage Fermilab after a rigorous contract process,” University of Chicago president Paul Alivisatos told Physics World. “FermiForward represents a new approach that brings together the best parts of Fermilab with two new industry partners, who bring broad expertise from a deep bench from across the DOE complex.”
Alivisatos notes that the inclusion of Amentum and Longenecker will strengthen the management capability of the consortium given the companies’ “exemplary record of accomplishment in project management, operations, and safety.” Longenecker, a female-led company based in Las Vegas, is part of the managerial teams currently running Sandia, Los Alamos, and Savannah River national laboratories. Virginia-based Amentum, meanwhile, has a connection to Fermilab through Greg Stephens, its former vice president, who is now Fermilab’s chief operating officer.
The choice of the new contractor comes after Fermilab has faced a series of operating and budget challenges. In 2021, the institution scored low marks on a DOE assessment of its operations. A year later, complaints emerged that the lab’s leadership was restricting access to its campus despite reduced concern about the spread of COVID-19. In July, a group of Fermilab staff whistleblowers claimed that a series of problems indicated that the lab was “doomed” without a change of management. And in late August, the lab underwent a period of limited operations to reduce a budgetary shortfall.
The Fermilab staff whistleblowers, however, see little change in the DOE’s selection of FFDV. Indeed, the key members of FFDV – the University of Chicago and URA – made up Fermi Research Alliance, the previous contractor that has overseen Fermilab’s operations since 2007.
“We understand that the only reaction by DOE to our investigative report is that of coaching the University of Chicago’s teams that steward the university’s relationships with the national labs,” the group wrote in a letter to Geraldine Richmond, DOE’s Undersecretary for Science and Innovation, which has been seen by Physics World. “By doing so, the DOE is once again showing that it is for the status-quo.”
The DOE hasn’t revealed how many bids it received or other details about the contract award. In a statement to Physics World it noted that it “cannot discuss the contract at the current time because of business sensitive information”. Fermilab declined to comment for the story.
Research done at a mountaintop cosmic-ray observatory in Armenia has shed new light on how thunderstorms can create flashes of gamma rays by accelerating electrons. Further study of the phenomenon could answer important questions about the origins of lightning.
This accelerating process is called thunderstorm ground enhancement (TGE), whereby thunderstorms create strong electric fields that accelerate atmospheric free electrons to high energies. These electrons then collide with air molecules, creating a cascade of secondary charged particles. When charged particles are deflected in these collisions they emit gamma rays in a process called bremsstrahlung.
The flashes of gamma rays are called “gamma-ray glows” and are some of the strongest natural sources of high-energy radiation on Earth.
Physicist Joseph Dwyer at the University of New Hampshire, who was not involved in the Armenian study says, “When you think of gamma rays, you usually think of black holes or solar flares. You don’t think of inside the Earth’s troposphere as being a source of gamma rays, and we’re still trying to understand this.”
Century-old mystery
Indeed, the effect was first predicted a century ago by Nobel laureate Charles Wilson, who is best known for his invention of the cloud chamber radiation detector. However, despite numerous attempts over the decades, early researchers were unable to detect this acceleration.
This latest research was led by Ashot Chiliangrian, who is director of the Cosmic Ray Division of Armenia’s Yerevan Physics Institute. The measurements were made at a research station located 3200 m above sea level on Armenia’s Mount Aragats.
Chiliangrian says, “There were some people that were convinced that there was no such effect. But now, on Aragats, we can measure electrons and gamma rays directly from thunderclouds.”
In the summer of 2023, Chiliangrian and colleagues detected gamma rays, electrons, neutrons and other particles from intense TGE events. By analysing 56 of those events, the team has now concluded that the electric fields involved were close to Earth’s surface.
Though Aragats is not the first facility to confirm the existence of these gamma-ray glows, it is uniquely well-situated, sitting at a high altitude in an active storm region. This allows measurements to be made very close to thunderclouds.
Energy spectra
Instead of measuring the electric field directly, the team inferred its strength by analysing the energy spectra of electrons and gamma rays detected during TGE events.
By comparing the detected radiation to well-understood simulations of electron acceleration, the team deduced the strength of the electric field responsible for the particle showers as 2.1 kV/cm.
This field strength is substantially higher than what has been observed in most previous studies of thunderstorms, which typically use weather balloons to take direct field measurements.
The fact that such a high field can exist near the ground during a thunderstorm challenges previous assumptions about the limits of electric fields in the atmosphere.
Moreover, this discovery could help solve one of the biggest mysteries in atmospheric science: how lightning is initiated. Despite decades of research, scientists have been unable to measure electric fields strong enough to break down the air and create the initial spark of lightning.
“These are nice measurements and they’re one piece of the puzzle,” says Dwyer, “What these are telling us is that these gamma ray glows are so powerful and they’re producing so much ionizing radiation that they’re partially discharging the thunderstorm.”
“As the thunderstorms try to charge up, these gamma rays turn on and cause the field to kind of collapse,” Dwyer explains, comparing it to stepping on bump in a carpet. “You collapse it in one place but it pops up in another, so this enhancement may be enough to help the lightning get started.”
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