A new method for shaping the waveform generated by multi-antenna radar systems is inexpensive and practical. By adapting the interaction between several independent radar transmissions in real time, KAUST researchers have shown that it is possible to vastly improve target identification and range using multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) radar systems. Radar is used extensively…

National security: The phrase resonates like a drumbeat these days. Just one example: In its 2017 Budget-in-Brief, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security lists among its priorities allocating $103.9 million for radiological and nuclear detection equipment “to keep U.S. ports of entry safe and secure by detecting and interdicting illicit radioactive or nuclear materials.” A…

For the first time in more than 50 years, a door that is opened at the western end of the historic linear accelerator at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory casts light on four empty walls stretching as far as the eye can see. This end of the linac – a full kilometer…

A joint project between conservationists and electronics experts at the University of Kent has developed miniature radio devices in tamper-proof casings to protect rare species from poachers. The University of Kent is now working in association with the South African National Biodiversity Institute, where this technology has now been proposed as part of conservation planning. The…

Scientists of Institute of Physics, Nanotechnology and Telecommunications of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) and collaborators have established an international consortium to increase the accuracy of optical radar. An optical radar is a device for estimating distance, consisting of an emitter that transmits an optical signal (for example, a laser beam); a…

A blazar is a galaxy whose central nucleus is bright at wavelengths from the low energy radio band to high energy gamma rays (each gamma ray photon is over a hundred million times more energetic than the X-rays seen by the Chandra X-ray Observatory). Astronomers think that the blazar nucleus contains a supermassive black hole,…

For the first time ever, a cloud of ultra-cold atoms has been successfully created in space on board of a sounding rocket. The MAIUS mission demonstrates that quantum optical sensors can be operated even in harsh environments like space – a prerequisite for finding answers to the most challenging questions of fundamental physics and an…

Organic photovoltaics (OPV) may cost less than their silicon counterparts, but their performance remains off-putting to this day. A consortium of European research groups and industries recently demonstrated free-form organic solar modules for three specific, indoor and outdoor applications that should help put such concerns to bed. Over its three years of intensive research, the…

Galaxy clusters have long been recognized as important laboratories for the study of galaxy formation and evolution. The advent of the new generation of millimeter and submillimeter wave survey telescopes, like the South Pole Telescope (SPT), has made it possible to identify faint galaxy clusters over large fractions of the sky using an effect first…

Symmetry is the essential basis of nature, which gives rise to conservation laws. In comparison, the breaking of the symmetry is also indispensable for many phase transitions and nonreciprocal processes. Among various symmetry breaking phenomena, spontaneous symmetry breaking lies at the heart of many fascinating and fundamental properties of nature. Very recently, for the first…