magnetic field

First images of Landau levels revealed
10/04/2012 - 09:42

Physicists have directly imaged Landau Levels – the quantum levels that determine electron behaviour in a strong magnetic field – for the first time since they were theoretically conceived of by Nobel prize winner Lev Landau in 1930.

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Scientist finds new way to predict heat layer troublemaker
08/20/2012 - 13:35

Researchers at a recent worldwide conference on fusion power have confirmed the surprising accuracy of a new model for predicting the size of a key barrier to fusion that a top scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has developed. The model could serve as a starting point for overcoming the barrier.

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Scientists Chart High-Precision Map of Milky Way's Magnetic Fields
02/03/2012 - 12:27

Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory are part of an international team that has pooled their radio observations into a database, producing the highest precision map to date of the magnetic field within our own Milky Way galaxy.

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Mercury’s magnetic field – nipped in the bud
12/23/2011 - 00:53
Mercury, the smallest of the eight planets with a diameter of 4900 kilometres and the closest to the Sun, looks more like the Moon than the Earth from the outside. It is the only rocky planet that has a global magnetic field like Earth. But why is its magnetic field so much weaker than Earth’s? Scientists at the Technische Universität Braunschweig and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research have now presented a new explanation: the solar wind counteracts Mercury’s internal dynamo and thus weakens its magnetic field.
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2012: Magnetic Pole Reversal Happens All The (Geologic) Time
11/30/2011 - 23:53

Scientists understand that Earth's magnetic field has flipped its polarity many times over the millennia. In other words, if you were alive about 800,000 years ago, and facing what we call north with a magnetic compass in your hand, the needle would point to 'south.' This is because a magnetic compass is calibrated based on Earth's poles.

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An Unexpected Clue to Thermopower Efficiency
07/28/2011 - 14:55

Berkeley Lab scientists and their colleagues have discovered a new relation among electric and magnetic fields and differences in temperature, which may lead to more efficient thermoelectric devices that convert heat into electricity or electricity into heat.

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