News: Research

Read the latest news from the Department of Physics

Research

New Material Might Lead to Higher Capacity Hard Drives

Researchers from the U.S. and Japan have demonstrated that they can store and retrieve information magnetically in a new class of materials.

Computer hard drive

UT News

Newly Identified Gravitational Waves Help Pinpoint Black Hole

The scientists looking for gravitational waves reported that last year they observed four additional ripples in space-time. During about a nine-month period, scientists including UT Austins Aaron Zimmerman made the observation with the National Science Foundation’s LIGO collaboration.

Artists rendition of two black holes about to collide in space

Research

New Imaging Technique Could Speed Development of Sound-based Materials and Devices

A team led by Keji Lai at UT Austin has developed a new imaging technique based on acoustic waves, discovered through an unexpected observation in...

Render

Research

How UT Scientists Contributed to Nobel-Winning Gravitational Wave Discovery

No scientific discovery happens in isolation. See how UT Austin scientists and alumni are changing the world.

Diagram showing how different scientists relate to each other

Research

Physicists Improve Key Component of Future Atom Microscope

Learn about how Mark Raizen and his team at UT Austin have developed the world's highest resolution atom lens.

Illustration of an atom lens

Research

New Superconductor Could Pave Way to Practical Quantum Computers

New Superconductor Could Pave Way to Practical Quantum Computers

Artist’s conception of a Majorana fermion floating at the surface of the Fermi sea

UT News

Scientists Glimpse Inner Workings of Atomically Thin Transistors

Research led by Keji Lai used a microwave microcope to see inside of a transistor so thin it is essentially two-dimensional.

A chip with transistors

Research

Vernita Gordon, Assistant Professor in Physics, Discovers Bacteria Can Block Their Own Growth

Researchers led by UT Austin's Vernita Gordon have found that *Pseudomonas aeruginosa* bacteria can inhibit both their own growth and that of their antibiotic-resistant mutants...

vernita gordon and more

UT News

Improved Method for Isotope Enrichment Could Secure a Vital Global Commodity

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have devised a new method for enriching a group of the world’s most expensive chemical commodities, stable isotopes, which are vital to medical imaging and nuclear power.

An artist's rendering of the MAGIS Device (magnetically activated and guided isotope separation) by Marianna Grenadier.

Research

Trapping a Bacterium in a Laser Beam Aids Study of Biofilms

Biofilms are responsible for most chronic infections and are notoriously resilient and hard to treat.

Two-channel fluorescence image of a stamped pattern of P. aeruginosa in an isotropic background of S. aureus at t = 6 h, after the initial pattern has developed into a localized cluster.