Most materials, especially metals and ceramics, are crystals. Their atoms are arranged in three-dimensional lattices that repeat the same exact pattern, over and over again. But there's a well-known ...

Thanks to the alternating single-double nature of the bonds, electrons in these orbitals end up delocalized; the differences between the bonds become a bit irrelevant, and the molecule is best viewed ...

Scientists have demonstrated that atoms can exhibit wave-like behavior, challenging long-held assumptions that experiments of this nature were impossible and opening new doors in quantum physics. The ...

Physicists at the MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms have pulled off a feat once confined to the blackboards of theorists: they’ve taken the first direct images of atoms freely interacting in ...

Researchers developed a method that gradually adds and removes atoms in simulations, enabling realistic modeling of crystal defects that affect material strength.

AMO science does more than prime the pump from which our society’s material wealth flows. In addition to providing the basis for new technology, it also is a source of the intellectual capital on ...

The active ingredient in many drugs is what's known as a small molecule: bigger than water, much smaller than an antibody and mainly made of carbon. It's tough, however, to make these molecules if ...

Scientists in South Korea have created what they call "the world’s smallest ball game," throwing individual atoms between two optical traps. The research could eventually make for more adaptable and ...

Single photons have applications in quantum computation, information networks, and sensors, and these can be emitted by defects in the atomically thin insulator hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Missing ...

Atoms are normally made of a nucleus and electrons. But scientists are proposing a hunt for a new variety of atom without either. Tauonium (sometimes called “ditauonium” or “true tauonium”) would ...

Stephen has degrees in science (Physics major) and arts (English Literature and the History and Philosophy of Science), as well as a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication. Stephen has degrees in ...