Button to scroll to the top of the page.

News

From the College of Natural Sciences
New Superconductor Could Pave Way to Practical Quantum Computers

New Superconductor Could Pave Way to Practical Quantum Computers

Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a new superconducting material that might allow the construction of quantum computers that are more resistant to outside noise, such as electromagnetic interference.

Can General Relativity, at 100, Withstand Some Holes?

Can General Relativity, at 100, Withstand Some Holes?

This is the first of a three-part series on general relativity. 

In November 1915, Albert Einstein stood before his colleagues in the Prussian Academy of Sciences and unveiled a set of equations that would forever change the way we see the universe. The Theory of General Relativity, Einstein's description of gravity, explained the motions of everything we see in the universe.

New Nanostructure Could Lead to Advanced Optical Devices

New Nanostructure Could Lead to Advanced Optical Devices

When a quantum dot (right) is placed next to it, the light scattering properties of a much larger gold nanoparticle (center) change. A polarized light shining on the nanoparticle generates an electric field (surrounding bands of color).

Physicists Xiaoqin "Elaine" Li, Gennady Shvets and their colleagues have been exploring new ways to manipulate light on the nanoscale. In a paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they describe work that could lead to better biological sensors and improved devices for optical communications and computing.

Scientists Create New Tool to Study Emerging Materials for Spintronics

Scientists Create New Tool to Study Emerging Materials for Spintronics

As traditional electronics begin to reach their physical limits of compactness and speed, scientists and engineers are looking for new ways to stay on track with Moore's Law. One possible solution is to develop spintronics, devices that use a property of electrons known as spin to represent the 0's and 1's in computers. A class of materials called topological insulators (TIs) might have the right properties for spintronics, but since they were discovered less than a decade ago, scientists still know little about their properties.

Researchers Tackle the Dark Side of Moore's Law

Researchers Tackle the Dark Side of Moore's Law

This month marks the 50th Anniversary of Moore's Law, an observation that every couple of years, computer chip manufacturers manage to squeeze twice as many transistors onto a computer chip. Because transistors are the tiny on-off switches that perform calculations and temporarily store information, Moore’s Law also embodies the exponential increase in raw computing power that has unleashed a blizzard of tech innovations.

Capping Decades of Searching, Scientists Observe Elusive Particle That is its own Antiparticle

Capping Decades of Searching, Scientists Observe Elusive Particle That is its own Antiparticle

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and Princeton University have observed an exotic particle that behaves simultaneously like matter and antimatter, a breakthrough that could eventually enable powerful computers based on quantum mechanics.

Backstage Pass to the Texas Pettawatt Laser

Backstage Pass to the Texas Pettawatt Laser

Science writer and UT Austin alumnus Joe Hanson (Ph.D. '13) takes us on a tour of the Texas Center for High Intensity Laser Science, home of the Texas Pettawatt Laser. Photos by Robert Schults evoke the awe and mystery of this fundamental research. Read the article in the July/August 2014 edition of the Alcalde: 1,000,000,000,000,000 Wat...

Physicists Take Photonic Topological Insulators to the Next Level

Topological insulators, a state of matter that was only discovered in the past decade, may enable dramatic advances in quantum computing and spintronics.

Texas Astronomers Measure Most Massive, Most Unusual Black Hole Using Hobby-Eberly Telescope

Texas Astronomers Measure Most Massive, Most Unusual Black Hole Using Hobby-Eberly Telescope

The unusual black hole makes up 14 percent of its galaxy's mass, rather than the usual 0.1 percent, and lies 220 million light-years away in the constellation Perseus.
Chelikowsky Wins The American Physical Society’s Highest Award In Computational Physics

Chelikowsky Wins The American Physical Society’s Highest Award In Computational Physics

Physicist-chemist received the award for his computational applications of quantum theories to understand and predict material properties.