36 Current news of Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
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Physicists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics trace the double ionization of argon atoms on attosecond time scales
05-11-2012
When an intense laser pulse interacts with an atom it generates agitation on the micro scale. A rather likely outcome of this interaction is single ionization, where one electron is ejected from the atom. From time to time, however, two electrons can be removed from the atom, resulting in the ...
Physicists at MPQ succeed in resolving the internal dynamics of individual molecules using UV femtosecond laser pulses
02-14-2012
Nowadays, large laser systems provide ultra-short light pulses of very high intensity which – in principle – allow the imaging of matter and its dynamics on atomic scales, down to a single molecule or a virus. However, current methods fall short in efficiency to overlap a target molecule in a ...
Max Planck scientists in Goettingen have for the first time made finest details of nerve cells in the brain of a living mouse visible
02-08-2012
To explore the most intricate structures of the brain in order to decipher how it functions – Stefan Hell's team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen has made a significant step closer to this goal. Using the STED microscopy developed by Hell, the ...
White laser pulses with precisely tailored waveform enable the control of electrons in the microcosm
09-12-2011
An expedition through the fast-paced microscopic world of atoms reveals electrons that spin around at enormous speeds and have gigantic forces are acting on them. Monitoring the ultrafast motion of these electrons requires ultrashort flashes of light. However, in order to control them, the ...
Sunken oceanic crust resurfaces from Earth's mantle after only 500 million years
08-12-2011
The recycling of the Earth's crust in volcanoes happens much faster than scientists have previously assumed. Rock of the oceanic crust, which sinks deep into the earth due to the movement of tectonic plates, reemerges through volcanic eruptions after around 500 million years. Researchers from ...
Scanning tunnelling microscopes provide insights into mysterious electronic effects in some metals
06-24-2011
Electrons behave like football teams: the match becomes interesting when the teamwork is as good as that conjured up by the players of FC Barcelona. Electrons which interact strongly with each other give rise to superconductivity, the lossless transport of current, for example. A team headed ...
Chlorine in the ash plume of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull attacked atmospheric trace gases
05-31-2011
One year after the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland brought European air traffic to a standstill its ash plume revealed a surprising scientific finding: Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz found that the ash plume contained not only the common volcanic gas sulfur ...
05-16-2011
A new software called QED (Quantitative Electron Diffraction), which has been licensed by Max Planck Innovation, has now been released by HREM Research Inc., a Japan based company, which is developing products and services in the field of High-Resolution Electron Microscopy. QED allows ...
Osmotic forces play a role in nanotube formation in cells
03-16-2011
When unfolding a tent for the first time, you may wonder how the huge tarpaulin fits into a bag the size of a football. Biologists wonder about something similar: when a cell divides, the surface area of the cell membrane grows. Moreover, when molecules are brought from one organelle to ...
New facility in France to measure fundamental properties of neutrinos
01-31-2011
The Double Chooz collaboration recently completed its neutrino detector which will see anti-neutrinos coming from the Chooz nuclear power plant in the French Ardennes. The experiment is now ready to start collecting data in order to measure fundamental neutrino properties with important ...
