• Spotlight Detail

Supersolid or superglass?

Cornell researchers study a strange state of matter in helium

When helium is cooled to around 4 degrees above absolute zero, it turns liquid. Make it a couple of degrees cooler, and it becomes a "superfluid" that flows without resistance from its container, just as electrons flow without resistance in a superconductor. more

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Supersolid or superglass?

Two LASSP Faculty inducted as Foreign Members of Russian Academy of Sciences

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For Future Superconductors, a Little Bit of Lithium May Do Hydrogen a Lot of Good

Spotlight

Michael Hall, a graduate student in LASSP's Single Molecule Biophysics Lab, can actually "unzip" the two strands of a DNA molecule using a procedure called optical trapping. To do this, he focuses a laser on a micron-sized polystyrene bead. Light going through the bead changes direction, forcing the bead in the opposite direction. The result is that the bead remains in the center of the beam of light, trapped in the optical trap. Michael can attach these beads to tiny ...
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