Just like a book can't be judged by its cover, a material can't always be judged by its surface. But, for an elusive conjectured class of materials, physicists have now shown that the surface ...

Purdue University doctoral student Yang Xu, lead author of a new research paper on "topological insulators," an emerging class of materials that could make possible "spintronic" devices and practical ...

Although it is generally assumed that surface elastic waves (vibrations) — such as those of earthquakes — will travel mostly unimpeded until their energy dissipates, there are ways to ‘steer’ this ...

An international team of researchers has discovered that the quantum particles responsible for the vibrations of materials—which influence their stability and various other properties—can be ...

Something strange goes on inside the material platinum-bismuth-two (PtBi₂). A new study by researchers at IFW Dresden and the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat demonstrates that while PtBi₂ may look like ...

Monitoring the surface topography of webs (e.g., paper) or metals (e.g., slab) is a key part of several manufacturing applications that helps detect errors to support good quality control. Detecting ...

Optical Profilometry employs light to measure surface contours and roughness by analyzing the interaction between light waves and the surface under examination. It utilizes various principles such as ...