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Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 6-Aug-2025 22:11 ET (7-Aug-2025 02:11 GMT/UTC)

Last chance to get a hotel discount for the world’s largest physics meeting

American Physical Society
Meeting Announcement

Book your hotel for the American Physical Society’s joint March Meeting and April Meeting, now called the Global Physics Summit, being held in person in Anaheim and online everywhere March 17-21.

New joint project to investigate quantum repeaters designed to provide for secure quantum communication networks of the future

Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz
Grant and Award Announcement

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding a new research project, entitled Quantenrepeater.Net (QR.N), which aims to demonstrate the viability of quantum repeaters over test networks outside the protected lab environment. The BMBF will be providing a total of EUR 20 million over three years.

Funder: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

IEEE researchers provide mathematical solutions to study 2D light interaction in photonic crystal lasers

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Photonic crystal surface-emitting lasers or PCSELs are laser diodes that generate laser beams through controlled light wave interaction within a photonic crystal structure. In a recent study, researchers developed a method to study the two-dimensional interaction of light waves in PCSELs and measure their efficiency. The findings suggest that triangular-lattice PCSELs may be more efficient at converting electricity into laser light compared to square-lattice PCSELs, providing mathematical modelling tools for designing efficient laser diodes.

Journal: IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics

Human-caused fires growing faster than lightning fires in the Western US

PNAS Nexus
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study shows that there are almost twice as many risky days for large human-caused fires in the American West as there are for lightning-caused fires, due to differences in the level of heat and aridity under which each type of fire is likely to occur. The discrepancy is not accounted for in most fire early warning systems. In addition, risky days for human-caused fires are growing faster than risky days for lighting-caused fires as the climate warms.

Journal: PNAS Nexus

Breakthrough in click chemistry: innovative method revolutionizes drug development

Tokyo University of Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Triple click chemistry has revolutionized chemical synthesis with its simplicity and efficiency, allowing for the quick and selective assembly of complex molecules. Now, in a recent study, researchers from Japan developed novel trivalent platforms capable of producing highly functional triazoles in straightforward one-pot reactions. These platforms have significant potential in drug development, materials science, and bioengineering, promising advancements in sustainable chemistry and biomedical innovations.

Journal: Chemical Communications
Funder: Asahi Glass Foundation, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

When qubits learn the language of fiberoptics

Institute of Science and Technology Austria
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Qubits—the fundamental units of quantum information—drive entire tech sectors. Among them, superconducting qubits could be instrumental in building a large-scale quantum computer, but they rely on electrical signals and are difficult to scale. In a breakthrough, a team of physicists at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) has achieved a fully optical readout of superconducting qubits, pushing the technology beyond its current limitations. Their findings were now published in Nature Physics.

Journal: Nature Physics
Funder: European Research Council, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Austrian Science Fund, ÖAW

Exotic waves with tangible effects

University of Augsburg
Peer-Reviewed Publication

So-called Rayleigh–Bloch waves can release enormous amount of energy that can damage technical systems under certain circumstances. They only exist below a precisely defined cut-off frequency; above this they disappear abruptly. Strangely enough, however, there are isolated high frequencies at which they can also be detected. Mathematicians from the Universities of Augsburg and Adelaide have recently proposed an explanation for this puzzling phenomenon. Together with researchers from the University of Exeter, they have now been able to prove experimentally that their theory is indeed correct. The results improve our understanding of these exotic waves, which could also be of interest for technical applications. The study has just been published in the journal Nature communications physics.

Journal: Communications Physics