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An international research team including Stefan Kimeswenger, astrophysicist at the University of Innsbruck, has tested a new approach to studying Earth-like exoplanets. The idea is to combine a large, earth-based telescope with a "sunshade" orbiting in space. How likely are habitable exoplanets, i.e. Earth-like planets outside our solar system? This is the question behind large-scale feasibility study , a project in which Nobel Prize winners Michel Mayor and John Mather were among those involved.

In a current strategy paper, an international team with the participation of TU Graz calls for the search for room-temperature superconductors to be pursued in a coordinated manner and with combined forces - and presents a programmatic approach for its success. The search for materials that can conduct electricity at room temperature without losing energy is one of the greatest and most consequential challenges of modern physics: loss-free power transmission, more efficient motors and generators, more powerful quantum computers, cheaper MRI devices.

Observing exoplanets poses a number of challenges. In particular, planets that resemble the Earth are very difficult to study, as they only shine faintly and are outshone by their associated star. Now an international research team including Stefan Kimeswenger, astrophysicist at the University of Innsbruck, has investigated a new approach: a large, Earth-based telescope is to be combined with a "sunshade" orbiting in space that specifically blocks out the star's light.

Researchers at TU Wien and IASBS have shown that the way different quantum measurements influence one another can be captured in a surprisingly simple formula. One of the most striking features of quantum physics is that certain properties cannot be measured at the same time. Every measurement may inevitably affects the object's physical state being measured - and therefore also the outcome of any subsequent measurement.

Together with a team in China a team at TU Wien extends the capabilities of quantum computers: Instead of combinations of 0s and 1s, the new technology uses four different states simultaneously.

By combining completely different microscopy methods, the optical density of a sample can be measured with pinpoint accuracy. The original intention was to examine biological samples on a molecular scale and encountered stubborn problems. But then it was discovered that the cause of the annoying measurement inaccuracy, the variable refractive index of the sample, can be precisely determined and thus becomes a highly interesting measurement result itself - when two fundamentally completely different microscopy methods are combined.

At the Department of Ion Physics and Applied Physics at the University of Innsbruck, a research team has succeeded for the first time in storing electrically charged helium nanodroplets in an ion trap for up to one minute. This extends the time window for experiments with these extremely cold "mini-laboratories" by a factor of 10,000 compared to previous methods - and opens up new possibilities for basic research in physics and chemistry.

How are superconductivity and magnetism connected? A puzzling relation between magnetism and superconductivity in a quantum material has lingered for decades - now a study from TU Wien offers a surprising new explanation. Some materials conduct electricity without any resistance when cooled to very low temperatures.

A remarkable success has been achieved at TU Wien: by combining two fundamentally different microscopy techniques, researchers can now measure the optical properties of a sample with pinpoint accuracy. The original goal was to investigate biological samples on a molecular scale - but this soon led to stubborn technical problems.

An old puzzle in particle physics has been solved: How can quantum field theories be best formulated on a lattice to optimally simulate them on a computer? The answer comes from AI. Quantum field theories are the foundation of modern physics. They tell us how particles behave and how their interactions can be described.

Nanomechanical systems developed at TU Wien have now reached a level of precision and miniaturization that will allow them to be used in ultra-high-resolution atomic force microscopes in the future. A major leap in measurement technology begins with a tiny gap of just 32 nanometers. This is the distance between a movable aluminum membrane and a fixed electrode, together forming an extremely compact parallel-plate capacitor-a new world record.

Inspired by biological systems, materials scientists have long sought to harness self-assembly to build nanomaterials. The challenge: the process seemed random and notoriously difficult to predict. Now, researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and Brandeis University have uncovered geometric rules that act as a master control panel for self-assembling particles.

Researchers at TU Wien and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have demonstrated an unexpected effect: in a quantum system that is highly disordered, coherent microwave radiation can suddenly emerge. Two candles emit twice as much light as one. And ten candles have ten times the intensity.

Instead of jumping, water molecules walk: Graz University of Technology and the University of Surrey show how water moves in surprisingly different ways on ultra-thin materials. In a study published in Nature Communications , researchers from Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) and the University of Surrey tested two ultra-thin, sheet-like materials with a honeycomb structure - graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN).

Physicists overcome a fundamental limitation of acoustic levitation with charge Physicists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have developed a method to acoustically levitate objects while keeping them physically separated using charge. Their results, published in PNAS , could find applications in materials science, robotics, and microengineering .

Using lasers as tweezers to understand cloud electrification might sound like science fiction, but at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), it is a reality. By trapping and charging micron-sized particles with lasers, researchers can now observe their charging and discharging dynamics over time.

Cu-64 is a copper isotope needed for medical applications - but it is very difficult to produce. At TU Wien, researchers have now developed an alternative production method. The copper isotope Cu-64 plays an important role in medicine: it is used in imaging processes and also shows potential for cancer therapy.

A team at TU Wien combines quantum physics and general relativity theory - and discovers striking deviations from previous results. It is something like the "Holy Grail" of physics: unifying particle physics and gravitation. The world of tiny particles is described extremely well by quantum theory, while the world of gravitation is captured by Einstein's general theory of relativity.

ISTA scientists solve complex quantum problems with the help of classical physics Quantum many-body scars are challenging our understanding of when and how quantum systems reach equilibrium. After recently demonstrating that they are more common than anticipated, researchers from the Serbyn group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have developed an algorithm to find them using classical equations of motion.

How silver iodide seeds ice: TU Wien researchers uncover how a tiny crystal triggers ice formation at the atomic level No one can control the weather, but certain clouds can be deliberately triggered to release rain or snow. The process, known as cloud seeding, typically involves dispersing small silver iodide particles from aircraft into clouds.