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Slow electrons are used in cancer therapy as well as in microelectronics. It is very hard to observe how they behave in solids. But scientists at TU Wien have made this possible. Electrons can behave very differently depending on how much energy they have. Whether you shoot an electron with high or low energy into a solid body determines which effects can be triggered.

Special thorium-containing crystals, developed over many years at TU Wien, were crucial in tracking down the long-sought thorium transition. Emerald, ruby, amethyst and many other gemstones have one thing in common: they consist of a perfectly regular crystal structure into which foreign atoms are incorporated in low concentrations.

The "thorium transition", which physicists have been looking for for decades, has now been excited for the first time with lasers. This paves the way for revolutionary high precision technologies, including nuclear clocks. Physicists have been hoping for this moment for a long time: for many years, scientists all'around the world have been searching for a very specific state of thorium atomic nuclei that promises revolutionary technological applications.

An international collaboration of researchers, led by Philip Walther at University of Vienna, have achieved a significant breakthrough in quantum technology, with the successful demonstration of quantum interference among several single photons using a novel resource-efficient platform. The work published in the prestigious journal Science Advances represents a notable advancement in optical quantum computing that paves the way for more scalable quantum technologies.

In the COSINUS research project, an international team involving TU Wien and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) is searching for evidence of dark matter. The large-scale experiment is now starting in Italy . How can we understand dark matter? It probably makes up around 85% of the mass in the universe, but what it is and what it consists of is still one of the biggest and most difficult questions in modern physics.

Astrophysicists were able to quantify the mass loss of stars via their stellar winds An international research team led by a researcher from the University of Vienna has for the first time directly detected stellar winds from three Sun-like stars by recording the X-ray emission from their astrospheres, and placed constraints on the mass loss rate of the stars via their stellar winds.

The laser-based technology developed at TU Graz enables the continual real-time analysis of air pollutants and their interaction with other gases and sunlight. Sunlight has a major influence on chemical processes. Its high-energy UV radiation in particular is strongly absorbed by all materials and triggers photochemical reactions of the substances present in the air.

Progress in biomedical imaging with PyrAt compounds Fluorescent molecules enable the visualization of tissue and cells and are therefore indispensable in medicine and pharmacy. A team led by Nuno Maulide and Leticia González from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Vienna and Harald Sitte from MedUni Vienna has developed a series of novel fluorescent molecules.

An international research team is attracting the attention of experts in the field with computational results on the behavior of ring polymers under shear forces: Reyhaneh Farimani, University of Vienna, and her colleagues showed that for the simplest case of connected ring pairs, the type of linkage - chemically bonded vs.

More stable quantum experiments are made possible at TU Wien with new tricks - by ingeniously splitting Bose-Einstein condensates. Quantum experiments always have to deal with the same problem, regardless of whether they involve quantum computers, quantum teleportation or new types of quantum sensors: quantum effects break down very easily.

A breakthrough in catalysis research leads to a new wall paint that cleans itself when exposed to sunlight and chemically breaks down air pollutants. Typically, beautiful white wall paint does not stay beautiful and white forever. Often, various substances from the air accumulate on its surface. This can be a desired effect because it makes the air cleaner for a while - but over time, the colour changes and needs to be renewed.

Using only a single electron microscope image, researchers at TU Graz can determine the type and exact position of so-called guest atoms in high-tech materials. They also come closer to solving the mystery of the blue colour of aquamarine. In addition to their main components, the properties of crystalline and nanoporous materials often depend crucially on guest atoms or ions that are embedded in the tiny pores of their lattice structure.

Important data, such as a Bitcoin wallet address, can be stored and concealed quite easily in ordinary plastic using 3D printers and terahertz radiation, scientists at TU Wien show. There are many ways to store data - digitally, on a hard disk, or using analogue storage technology, for example as a hologram.

A new spectroscopy method has been developed at TU Wien: Using a series of laser pusles, chemical analyses can be carried out much faster and more precisely than before. Whether you want to analyze environmental samples in nature or monitor a chemical experiment, you often need highly sensitive sensors that can "sniff out" even tiny traces of a certain gas with extreme accuracy.

Scientists predict that quantum computers will be able to discover drugs faster than conventional computers in the future Quantum computers have promising potential applications. One potential area of application is computer-aided research and development of new drugs. A team from the University of Vienna, together with researchers from Boehringer Ingelheim, BASF, Google, QC Ware and the University of Toronto, have investigated the possibilities of this technology in a review article published in the journal Nature Physics .

Quantum sensor technology promises even more precise measurements of physical quantities. A team led by Christian Roos at the University of Innsbruck has now compared the signals of up to 91 quantum sensors with each other and thus successfully suppressed the noise caused by interactions with the environment.

The material delays the formation of ice crystals and reduces the adhesion of ice layers. Thanks to an innovative production method, the coating is very robust and adheres to numerous surfaces. Ice-repellent coatings have been around for some time, but until now they have been very sensitive and detach quite quickly from the surfaces they are meant to protect.

The ÖAW and TU Vienna were able to show during a parabolic flight: A change in gravity has no influence on quantum experiments . A team from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Vienna University of Technology was able to prove this during a flight with the European Space Agency: Quantum entanglement also works when the strength of gravity changes.

It is an important step forward in spintronics: the magnetic state of certain materials can be switched using surface induced strain. All our electronics are based on electrical charges being transported from one place to another. Electrons move, current flows, signals are transmitted by applying an electrical voltage.

The cell nucleus is considered to be the control centre of vital cellular processes, but its material properties continue to puzzle scientists. An international research team led by MedUni Vienna has now developed a new technique that provides a previously unattainable view of the mechanical properties inside this control centre.