Tag Archives: spin

A first: Spintronics made visible

News: Quantum Physics    April 27, 2010
It’s an important emerging field, spintronics; though it’s not too well known. It’s based on a quantum property of electrons – they spin. Some electrons spin ‘up,’ some spin ‘down’ and if you can get a device to read that state of up or down, that’s the basis for many kinds of electronics. This includes [...]
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Should science use spin?

Spun: March 16, 2010
It was late in the day. Most of the lab’s computers were already in screen-saver mode. I had my feet up on the bench, just to let the blood run the other way, you know. In came Jimmy (real name, James) the lab’s one and only intern that summer. We hadn’t talked much, but then [...]
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Quantum chemistry – a new world

Impact: Quantum Physics    February 12, 2010
Here’s the story in a nutshell: Scientists have long known how to control the internal states of molecules, such as their rotational and vibrational energy levels. In addition, the field of quantum chemistry has existed for decades to study the effects of the quantum behavior of electrons and nuclei—constituents of molecules. But until now scientists [...]
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“Climategate” a spinmeister’s delight

Spun: December 2, 2009
It’s like a stage full of whirling dervishes: spin left, spin right, faster, faster. What has become known as “ClimateGate” (the name itself is, of course, a piece of spin) continues to hog media time. Less than a week after email from the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was hacked/pilfered/stolen (pick your [...]
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