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Hair-width LEDs could replace lasers — and a UCSB doctoral student is helping make it happen

A monolayer of the transition metal dichalcogenide alloy MoWSe₂ with K⁺ and K⁻ valleys. The purple lines indicate the external magnetic field, the application of which leads to the splitting of exciton state energies as a result of the Zeeman effect. This phenomenon is illustrated as different separations between the valence band and the conduction band in the two valleys. @ Grzegorz Krasucki, Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw Scientists from the Faculty of Physics at

The team developed a platform that uses powerful X-rays from the lab’s LCLS X-ray laser to resolve for the first time the evolution of instabilities in high-density plasmas.

Clusters of 10 tantalum atoms, arranged in triangles, create stress in the crystal’s structure. This stress unlocks unique magnetic properties, essential for future technologies such as quantum computing. Credit: Jewook Park/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, working with international partners, have uncovered surprising behavior in a specially engineered crystal. Composed of tantalum, tungsten and selenium — el

Video showing the blinking quantum dots from the experiment. The researchers turned a laser field on and off to drive them far from equilibrium and modulate their blinking. | Shen, Y., Chen, C., Ma, H., et al. "Non-equilibrium entropy production and information dissipation in a non-Markovian quantum dot." Nat. Phys. (2026), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-026-03177-8 In order to build the computers and devices of tomorrow, we have to understand how they use energy today. That’

Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the team’s miniaturized, 3D-printed ion trap. Forty calcium ions are trapped in the space between the four poles that create an oscillating electrical potential. @Xiaoxing Xia/LLNL Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the University of California (UC) Berkeley, UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara have miniaturized quadrupole ion traps for the first time with 3D printing — a breakthrough in one of the most p