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Treating cancer with beams of high-energy protons is just one of the exciting possibilities presented by the advent of laser-based particle accelerators. But how soon will these devices reach the performance levels needed for such applications, and how will these improvements be made?
The melting temperatures of the base-pair sequences in DNA are difficult to predict. But applying statistical physics to the problem has created an 'index' that well represents the molecule's thermal properties.
The observation of macroscopic quantum coherent behaviour by a single polymer chain provides an important model system for studying the physics of reduced dimensionality, unperturbed by the disorder that can complicate the study of conventional inorganic systems.
The ability to measure small or slow rotations relative to an inertial frame is valuable in navigation as well as in fundamental physics. A device that exploits techniques developed in atomic physics could lead to sensitive and compact rotation sensors.
The role of phonons in conventional superconductivity — first determined by isotope substitution — has been known for over half a century. But identifying the mechanism in unconventional superconductivity is a much more challenging affair.
Depending on the temperature, the flow of current between two reservoirs of superfluid 4He exhibits phase slippage — a mechanism that creates vortices and leads to energy dissipation — or Josephson oscillations when the apertures connecting the reservoirs behave as a weak link.
