The so-called Planckian limit on scattering of charge carriers is experimentally confirmed in a high-temperature superconductor.

Cells grow and move. In cancer, the growth of one cell type over another is a key hallmark of the disease. But how do cells actually process information on local physical stresses, like pressure?

Researchers from the Department have led and contributed to the 2021 Roadmap for Ultrafast Spectroscopy, highlighting trends and opportunities in the science of probing electron and atom motion on the shortest timescales feasible.

Many congratulations to Drs Elena Cukanovaite, James Gott and Samuele Ferracin, for their success in the 2021 PhD Thesis Prize competition. Elena won the Winton Prize for Astrophysics, James was awarded the Springer Thesis Prize, while Samuele is the recipient of the Faculty of Science and Department of Physics Thesis prize. Read on for more details about the prizes and their research.

What happens at the molecular lever when a photon hits the eye or light shines on a leaf?

Physical processes occurring on nanometre length scales and femtosecond time scales typically undergo complex dynamics involving multilevel quantum systems. Understanding such complex quantum dynamics is a major open challenge. Foremost among them is the dimension of the Hilbert space  involved, which determines the number of parameters necessary for understanding the dynamics. This is typically done by fitting models of various degrees of sophistication to experimental data.

Study reveals a novel form of symmetry breaking driven by chemical intervention: an anisotropic change in magnetic properties is induced by ionic substitution of an isotropic species.