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Another Advance on the Road to Spintronics

By Guest PostOctober 21, 2012Sciencealbert einstein, alexander gray, analyzer, basis, berkeley lab, charles fadley, computing industry, contamination, data, dilute, electron, electronic structure, energy conversion, energy-efficient, exchange model, facility, ferromagnetic, gallium arsenide, gallium atom, gamnas, harpes, hyogo, jan minar, Japan, jun fujii, kelvin, magnetic atom, magnetic semiconductor, memory architecture, nanoscale device, new technique, p d, peter stone, photoelectric effect, photoemission, photovoltaic cell, processing, room temperature, shigenori ueda, spin, spintronic application, spintronic technology, spring8, storage, surface reaction, synchrotron radiation, xray angle, yoshiyuki yamashita

Berkeley Lab Researchers Unlock Ferromagnetic Secrets of Promising Materials

Spintronic technology, in which data is processed on the basis of electron “spin” rather than charge, promises to revolutionize the computing industry with smaller, faster and more energy efficient data storage and processing. Materials drawing a lot of attention for spintronic applications are dilute magnetic semiconductors – normal semiconductors to which a small amount of magnetic atoms is added to make them ferromagnetic. Understanding the source of ferromagnetism in dilute magnetic semiconductors has been a major road-block impeding their further development and use in spintronics. Now a significant step to removing this road-block has been taken.

A multi-institutional collaboration of researchers led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), using a new technique called HARPES, for Hard x-ray Angle-Resolved PhotoEmission Spectroscopy, has investigated the bulk electronic structure of the prototypical dilute magnetic semiconductor gallium manganese arsenide. Their findings show that the material’s ferromagnetism arises from both of the two different mechanisms that have been proposed to explain it. (more…)

NASA’s Spitzer Sees the Light of Alien ‘Super Earth’

By Guest PostMay 9, 2012Science55 cancri, 55 cancri e, atmosphere, bill danchi, gaseous planet, hot jupiter, jet propulsion laboratory, kelvin, michael gillon, michael werner, NASA, planet, signs of life, solar system, spitzer project, spitzer space telescope, super earth

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a “super-Earth” planet beyond our solar system for the first time. While the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets.

“Spitzer has amazed us yet again,” said Bill Danchi, Spitzer program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The spacecraft is pioneering the study of atmospheres of distant planets and paving the way for NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to apply a similar technique on potentially habitable planets.” (more…)

Echoes From an Exploding Star

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2012Sciencearmin rest, astronomers, astronomical equivalent, brightness, british astronomer, canyon, double star system, earth, erupting stars, eta carinae, fahrenheit, great eruption, hubble images, Hubble Space Telescope, kelvin, light, light echo, luminous blue variables, milky way galaxy, nathan smith, nebula, peak, physical models, sir john herschel, sky, spectroscopic observations, stellar class, supernova

*Astronomers watch a delayed broadcast of a powerful stellar eruption.*

Astronomers are watching the astronomical equivalent of streaming live video of a spectacular outburst from the unstable, behemoth double-star system Eta Carinae, which initially was seen on Earth nearly 170 years ago.

Dubbed the “Great Eruption,” the outburst lasted from 1837 to 1858 and caught the attention of sky-watchers at the time, including the British astronomer Sir John Herschel. He did not have the benefit of the imaging cameras and spectrographs that modern astronomers use to learn about stars, so we only have a historical record of the star’s visual brightness. (more…)

Hubble to Target ‘Hot Jupiters’

By Guest PostAugust 21, 2011Scienceadam showman, alien atmospheres of hot jupiters, astronomers, atmospheric conditions of planets, david sing, exoplanets, gilda ballester, hot jupiter atmospheres, hot jupiters, Hubble Space Telescope, kelvin, mysterious gas, NASA, rotation, solar systems, stratospheres, temperatures, thermal inversion zone, university of exeter, visible light spectrum

An international team of astronomers led by a former UA graduate student has set out on the largest program to date exploring the alien atmospheres of “Hot Jupiters” – massive planets in solar systems far away from our own.

An international team of scientists has secured a large program of nearly 200 hours of observing time with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to explore the atmospheric conditions of planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. (more…)

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Another Advance on the Road to Spintronics

NASA’s Spitzer Sees the Light of Alien ‘Super Earth’

Echoes From an Exploding Star

Hubble to Target ‘Hot Jupiters’