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 It's
a Gas!
A gas of electrons and positively charged holes is electrically conducting
when they act independently but insulating when they're bound as "excitons."
Researchers trap
electron-hole gases in quantum wells and zap them with ultrashort
flashes of infrared radiation to watch them change from insulators to
conductors and back again.
The Birth
of VENUS
Superconducting VENUS has the world's most powerful magnetic confinement
system for an electron-cyclotron resonance ion source. By creating plasmas
with very high-frequency microwaves, VENUS
is poised to set records for beam intensity and heavy-ion charge states,
including high-current beams of uranium plus-55 and higher.
More Than
Symbolic Savings
Turning off computers and other office machines at the right time, or just
letting them take naps, could save billions of dollars in energy -- if users
only knew how to do it. A new study aims to harmonize
clashing symbols for power, sleep, and other operating switches. |
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