New papers on Applied physics & devices
61 new papers on applied physics & devices in the last 7 days, within Physics. These are the 50 Pipette rates most worth reading, with the main result in the authors' own words.
The best of the week
Silk-templated Nanostrips as Superprotonic Fibre Sensors
Here, we report a bio-templated, scalable strategy to create superprotonic interfaces using natural silk fibres.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyBroad interestClaims a big stepReal-world useImaging with GeV muons produced via laser-wakefield-accelerated electrons
To our knowledge, this represents the first demonstration of imaging dominated by an artificial, laser-driven muon beam.
PreprintClaims a big stepUltrafast light-sheet optical tweezers for in situ parallelized biomechanical characterization of cells and soft tissues
We present light-sheet optical tweezers as a force transducer (LOFT), an approach that improves the throughput by at least 3x through simultaneous multiparticle trapping and parallelized characterization under sub-nN forces.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyClaims a big stepSingle-electron detection in a high-purity Ge device
Here we introduce a cryogenic HPGe detector architecture that achieves single electron-hole pair sensitivity by calorimetrically measuring ionization at temperatures near 20 mK.
PreprintClaims a big stepReal-world useReprogrammable origami through bistable buckled hinges
Here, we introduce reprogrammable origami hinges that use bistable buckled shims to reversibly control their preferred folding direction.
PreprintWafer-scale 2D MoS₂ transistors with sub-5 nm channel length and subthreshold performance beyond the silicon limit
Here, we report monolayer MoS₂ transistors with physical channel lengths below 5 nm, achieving a subthreshold swing of 88 mV/dec and an on/off ratio above 106.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyClaims a big stepReal-world useUnmodeled states and uncertain action outcomes in agentic scanning tunneling microscopy
After a brief apprenticeship with a human expert, frontier LLM agents autonomously completed end-to-end tip conditioning on an STM and passed an independent verification.
PreprintCreation of ferroelectric flux-closure transistor array for non-volatile field-effect memory
Here, we demonstrate ferroelectric field-effect transistors (Fe-FETs) based on freestanding films with identical polar flux-closures.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyClaims a big stepReal-world useLeveraging Industrial Foundation Models at the Edge of Particle Physics Detectors via Distillation Learning and Hardware Co-design
This work provides the first fine-tuning of an industrial foundation model for particle physics DAQ.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyClaims a big stepPendell\"osung length-scale neutron and X-ray interferometry
Here, using a non-etching sub-micron fabrication technique, we demonstrate silicon triple-Laue interferometers with equal-blade-thicknesses of 110 m and 350 m, operated with both neutrons and X-rays.
PreprintQuantitative Dried droplet Morphology and Image Analysis for Screening Adulteration in Milk
Our findings show that a simple, two level feature based framework: first resolving milk type, then adulterant family, then specific adulterant identity can be realized entirely from optical microscopy data without additional chemical reagents.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useMetalens-transparent ultrasound transducer module for extended depth photoacoustic microscopy
Here, we present an extended-depth ORPAM system that combines an ultra-thin metalens for optical excitation with a planar transparent ultrasound transducer (TUT) for photoacoustic detection.
PreprintReal-world useA Green's-function method for vertical thermal boundary conductance in anisotropic multilayers
We present a Green's-function boundary integral equation (GBIE) method that couples transfer-matrix Green's functions to an interface-only integral equation for depth-dependent , supporting dissimilar orthotropic multilayers () on either side and horizontal conductance .
PreprintReal-world useIntegration of p-type Cr2O3 on Ultra-Wide Bandgap AlGaN PolFETs with 2.5 kV Breakdown Voltage
We demonstrate UWBG AlGaN polarization-graded field-effect transistors (PolFETs) incorporating room-temperature sputtered p-type oxide Cr2O3 as a P-N heterojunction gate, enabling superior field management for lateral device breakdown compared to conventional Schottky gates.
PreprintReal-world useFast-Neutron Scintillation with Multi-Quantum-Well 2D Perovskites
Taken together, these results establish multi-quantum-well 2D perovskites as a scalable materials platform that combines fast-neutron sensitivity and selectivity within a controllable detector form factor.
PreprintReal-world useRaytracing Black Holes with AI Accelerators
We show how software infrastructure that was mainly built to power AI applications also can be used to great benefit for other purposes -- by demonstrating a fully self-contained JAX-based black hole raytracer in under 180+200 lines of Python code plus documentation.
PreprintBroad interestCode availableStable 50 MeV Beams from a 100 Hz Laser-Wakefield Accelerator Driven by an OPCPA Laser
We demonstrate a laser-wakefield accelerator driven by a high-repetition-rate optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) laser, producing stable, quasi-monoenergetic electron beams at 100 Hz.
PreprintExperimental Verification of Circumferential Bunch Length Variation and Head-Tail Exchange Affecting Microwave Instability in a Storage Ring
Here we present the first experimental evidence supporting our theoretical analysis.
PreprintRevisiting Aristarchus's method to estimate the ratio of the distances from Earth to the Sun and the Moon
We present here the construction of a simple instrument, basically a tube that, by projecting its shadow, that allows one to estimate the Sun-Earth-Moon angle at the moment of first (or last) quarter.
PreprintBroad interestTeaching an LLM agent to fit XRR curves with X-Ray Calc 3
It was demonstrated that the skill recovered the mean period within 0.3 {\AA} of the expert's fits and the period drift through the stack on both W/B4C specimens, and the W and B4C thicknesses within 1 {\AA} on one of them.
PreprintTubeLab: Interactive inverse design of wind instrument bores with hard spectral constraints
We present TubeLab, a browser-based acoustic simulator and inverse design tool for wind instrument bores without tone holes.
PreprintPersistent homology of Hamiltonian orbits with applications to beam physics: Euler-Betti classification and topological chaos indicators
For the configurations studied, persistent homology of short orbit segments predicts the dynamic aperture obtained by substantially longer tracking, potentially reducing the need for exhaustive simulations in studies of existing accelerators and the design of future facilities.
PreprintOptical Ion Clock with Engineered Immunity to Motion-Induced Frequency Shifts
Here, we introduce a spectroscopic interrogation protocol which leads, for systems with unknown and varying motional energy gain rates, to first-order auto-suppression of corresponding frequency shifts without requiring the opposite-sign configuration.
PreprintDesign and Operation of a 3-Crystal Multi-Volume Reflection Array for Loss Reduction in CERN SPS Slow Extraction
Measurements with beam confirm the prediction: at its optimum the as-built array reduces the losses by the predicted factor of four, and beam dynamics simulations matched to the measured position and angle scans reproduce them to a few per cent.
PreprintReal-world useUniversal behavior in diffuse charge dynamics with patterned electrodes
Here, we show that the onset of frequency dispersion in the impedance of an electrolytic cell with non-uniformly charged electrodes takes place at approximately twice the resonator natural frequency, independently of whether the cell is driven by oscillating charges or voltage differences, and remains valid for both overlapping and non-overlapping double layers.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useMagnetic Particle Magnetometer Based on Langevin Response of Superparamagnetic Nanoparticles for Remote Magnetic Field Sensing
We demonstrate a novel magnetometer that utilizes the Langevin nonlinear magnetization of superparamagnetic nanoparticles as the sensing medium.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useA Cryogenic Penning Trap Based on Permanent Magnets
We report on a Penning trap based on NdFeB permanent magnets operated at 4 K with a magnetic field strength of 280 mT.
PreprintProof-of-Concept and User Perspective on Photon-to-Digital Converter Applications in Particle Physics
As the first application of this technology to particle physics instrumentation, we place particular emphasis on the user perspective, reporting on the practical experience of operating PDCs, from setup and calibration to data handling, and highlighting the relative ease of integration compared to conventional SiPM readout.
PreprintAll-Dielectric Ceramic 3-D Printed Unidirectional Leaky-Wave Antenna at mm-Wave Frequencies
An all-dielectric leaky-wave antenna, radiating unidirectionally at broadside without the use of a metallic ground plane, is designed and manufactured.
PreprintReal-world useDynamical Diversity for Reservoir Computing in Reconfigurable Nanomechanics
These results demonstrate how dynamical diversity through variations in modal drive amplitudes expands the computational capability of a single multimode NEMS resonator.
PreprintTHz Spectroscopy of Urine Vapors from Patients with Prostate Cancer and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: A Pilot Analysis
Analysis of urine samples from 24 patients with PC and 14 patients with BPH identified differences in the reported molecular-assignment patterns and candi- date spectral features for further evaluation.
PreprintCTrex: A Research-Oriented Framework for Kernel- and Projection-Level Algorithm Development in CT Reconstruction
We introduce CTrex, a research-oriented, GPU-accelerated iterative reconstruction framework that exposes the projection-correction-backprojection pipeline down to the kernel level.
PreprintReal-time Tunable Probability Distributions From Perimeter-Gated SPAD TRNGs
Collectively, we showed that common non-uniform distributions such as Poisson, exponential, and approximated Gaussian can be achieved and tuned in real-time using pg-SPAD TRNGs.
PreprintThermoreflectance-Based Techniques for Micro- and Nanoscale Thermophysical Property Measurements: Principles, Methods, and Recent Advances
A unified heat-diffusion framework is established to compare these methods in terms of parameter sensitivity, measurement uncertainty, and applicability.
PreprintReal-world useDetermination of the Charge of Electron Using Faraday's Law of Electrolysis
We demonstrate that students can obtain a reasonable value for the charge of the electron from simple measurements, providing a direct experimental connection between Faraday's law, Avogadro's number, and the electron charge.
PreprintIntegration of Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Knowledge Access in the ELBE Accelerator Control System
This contribu- tion presents the system architecture, data integration strat- egy, and challenges toward real-time AI-assisted accelerator operation
Preprint with a published versionReal-world useDesign and Initial Evaluation of a Photovoltaics-focused Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience in Physics
This work contributes both a discipline-specific model for implementing CUREs in experimental physics laboratory courses and provides insight into how students interpret and experience authentic research within this course context.
PreprintVector Measurements Using Integrated Radio Frequency Atomic Magnetometers
We demonstrate reconstruction of three-dimensional radio-frequency (RF) magnetic-field vectors using a pair of integrated RF atomic magnetometers operated with orthogonal bias-field orientations.
PreprintBoundary-condition identification from a scale-invariant frequency ratio in shear-deformable and nonlocal beams and plates
Because is largely independent of these details, a measured shift identifies which boundary-condition transition a deliberate change of support has produced, with a resolution we quantify and verify against molecular-dynamics data.
PreprintLiquid-Nitrogen Micropillar-Wick Cooling for Cryogenic Electronics: A Numerical Study of Thermal Performance and Capillary Dry-Out Limits
The results indicate that local thermal performance is favorable, whereas lateral scalability is primarily constrained by capillary dry-out.
PreprintReal-world useEvaluation of effective wave velocities in polycrystalline materials using the ultrasonic reflection matrix
Here, a method is proposed to determine the elastic constants of metallic polycrystalline materials using back-scattered ultrasound.
Preprintkicad-pycbnew: A Python Framework for Automated, High-Precision PCB Design in Particle Detector Instrumentation
kicad-pycbnew is an open-source Python library for the automated, script-based generation of KiCad PCB designs, tailored to the precise geometric and impedance constraints of particle detector readout electronics.
PreprintReal-world useIntegration of the NIST Spectroscopic Plate Archive into the Harvard Plate Stacks
We summarize the contents of this collection regarding the instruments used and the spectra measured, and we present the tools and procedures we use for digitizing the collection.
PreprintEasy to readScalable Multiple Electron Transport Architectures for Feedback Traceable Current Sources
We present a scalable electron-counting current cell based on a floating gate architecture operated as a Multiple Electron Transport device (MET).
PreprintFiber-based scanning levitated nanoparticle force sensor near a metalized membrane
We describe a fiber-based dual-beam trap for dielectric nanospheres with the ability to transfer the trapped particles into a retro-reflective standing-wave trap within micron-range distances of a metallic mirror surface.
PreprintInteger Quantization of Graph Neural Networks for Real-Time FPGA Track Finding
This work presents a reproducible, bit-exact workflow bridging GNN design and FPGA prototyping for fixed-latency inference.
PreprintReal-world usePulse-shape discrimination with machine learning for CZT detectors at the DANE beam test facility
These preliminary results demonstrate the potential of machine-learning-assisted pulse-shape discrimination for improving CZT spectroscopy in collider environments.
PreprintStudy of the properties of sustainable materials for shielding against ionizing radiations
This contribution presents a comparison of the effect of concrete and rammed raw earth on photons.
PreprintReal-world useVectorpotential-based Beam Current Sensors: Applications for Mu2e, and Picosecond Bunch Substructure
We present the design and results of simulated and realized sensors now deployed at Fermilab for future use as pulse-to-pulse proton intensity monitors at the Mu2e experiment.
PreprintReal-world useA compact fibre-coupled active beamstop for fast time-resolved monitoring of synchrotron X-ray beams
We have developed a compact fibre-coupled active beamstop for simultaneous interception and time-resolved monitoring of the direct X-ray beam in synchrotron diffraction experiments.
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