How water hides its quantum secret

Researchers show experimentally why water and heavy water behave similarl

10-Apr-2025 - Almost three-quarters of the earth are covered by water. Water is the most abundant, but also strangest liquid - for example, it has its maximum density at 4 °C. Researchers around Yuki Nagata and Mischa Bonn at the MPI for Polymer Research have now studied normal water - H2O - and heavy water - ...

Unlocking the Potential of Nickel

New Study Reveals How to use Single Atoms to Turn CO2 into Valuable Chemical Resources

03-Dec-2024 - A study published in Physical Review Letters by the Interface Science Department at the Fritz Haber Institute has unveiled new insights into the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2using nickel-based catalysts. The research, led by Dr. Janis Timoshenko and Prof. Dr. Beatriz Roldán Cuenya, marks a ...

Ytterbium thin-disk lasers pave the way for sensitive detection of atmospheric pollutants

The laser's capacity to generate high-power, stable pulses in the SWIR range is a game-changer for field-resolved spectroscopy and femtosecond fieldoscopy

19-Nov-2024 - Alongside carbon dioxide, methane is a key driver of global warming. To detect and monitor the climate pollutants in the atmosphere precisely, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have developed an advanced laser technology. A high-power ytterbium thin-disk laser ...

A breakthrough discovery paves the way for new electronics with chiral materials

Orbital angular momentum monopoles could revolutionize future information technology

01-Oct-2024 - Orbital angular momentum monopoles, which have been predicted to offer significant advantages for next generation of electronic devices, have now been observed for the first time in chiral materials by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle and their ...

How lab-made catalysts can help to get a grip on difficult greenhouse gases

09-Nov-2023 - Natural gas consists of light hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane. Such gases are more potent greenhouse gases than CO2, are constantly released into the atmosphere from natural gas wells, and are more difficult to store than, for example, their corresponding alcohols (methanol and ethanol, ...

Highly Accurate Results at Low Computational Cost

Researchers Succeed in Predicting NMR Parameters with DLPNO Approximation

20-May-2021 - Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is one of the most important analytical techniques used in chemical, pharmaceutical, and biomedical research as well as in materials sciences. It provides detailed information about the structures of molecules in solution, which is, however, indirect. Hence, ...

The next phase of the proton puzzle

New milestone in frequency comb spectroscopy

30-Nov-2020 - Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) have succeeded in testing quantum electrodynamics with unprecedented accuracy to 13 decimal places. The new measurement is almost twice as accurate as all previous hydrogen measurements combined and moves science one step closer to ...

Detecting the handedness of a single nanoparticle

New microscope-based spectrometer records both polarization states simultaneously and permitted the first observation of a dynamically moving single nanoparticle

11-Sep-2020 - Scientists from the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a new spectroscopic-microscope, which can be used to observe a single nanoparticle in real time. This enabled the first detection of a nanoparticle’s handedness while it is ...

The Higgs boson and superconductivity

New form of spectroscopy provides insights for the development of resistance-free current transport at ambient temperature

20-May-2020 - Without the Higgs mechanism, particles would have no mass. The Higgs boson, which was discovered in 2012, is therefore also referred to as the “God particle”. It arises as an oscillating excitation of the Higgs field, which penetrates the world. Superconductivity displays similar properties. ...

When ions rattle their cage

How the investigation of ion oscillations can lead to better batteries

07-Apr-2020 - Electrolytes play a key role in many areas: They are crucial for the storage of energy in our body as well as in batteries. In order to release energy, ions - charged atoms - must move in a liquid such as water. Until now the precise mechanism by which they move through the atoms and molecules of ...