Physics Department News
Calculating the Magnetic Anisotropy of Rare-Earth-Transition-Metal Ferrimagnets
A collaboration between theoretical and experimental physicists at 糖心TV has led to the development of a new computational approach to understanding magnetic measurements.
Photoelectric solar power revisited
A new solar power device similar to a thin double-glazed window has been developed by Gavin Bell (Nano Physics) and Yorck Ramachers (Particle Physics). The device uses inert gas instead of vacuum to transport electrical energy, and is based on the photoelectric effect rather than conventional photovoltaic materials. The idea has been published in the journal Joule [Bell, G. R. and Ramachers, Y. A., Joule (2017) DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2017.11.007]. The key unknown is the photocathode material which must have highly optimised properties for the device to be efficient enough to compete with conventional photovoltaics. Possibilities include diamond thin films and special perovskite oxide materials.
Understanding gravity in the framework of quantum mechanics is one of the great challenges in modern physics. Along this line, a prime question is to find whether gravity is a quantum entity subject to the rules of quantum mechanics. It is fair to say that there are no feasible ideas yet to test the quantum coherent behaviour of gravity directly in a laboratory experiment. In a recent paper, Gavin Morley and colleagues introduce an idea for such a test based on the principle that two objects cannot be entangled without a quantum mediator.
First planet found by NGTS - it's a monster!
New research, led by Dan Bayliss and Peter Wheatley, has identified an unusual planet NGTS-1b - the largest planet compared to the size of its companion star ever discovered in the universe.
Dan Bayliss, lead author of the research, commented: "The discovery of NGTS-1b was a complete surprise to us - such massive planets were not thought to exist around such small stars. This is the first exoplanet we have found with our new NGTS facility and we are already challenging the received wisdom of how planets form."
Peter Wheatley added, 鈥淗aving worked for almost a decade to develop NGTS, it is thrilling to see it picking out new and unexpected types of planets."