2006
Archive of Physics Images
Cosmic Tornado
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed an object that looks like a giant tornado in space. The helical structure actually results from shock waves where a powerful protostellar jet hits neighboring gas and dust.
Larger Image and More Information
Topological Defects: Cosmology in the Lab
Cooling a thin liquid crystal film rapidly through a phase transition generates so-called topological defects-points in the image where four dark regions converge. These "knots" in the orderly pattern of the liquid crystal molecules are mathematically equivalent to the topological defects that may have been created in the cosmos by the young, rapidly cooling Universe.
Larger Image and More Information
Merger of Two Black Holes
A sophisticated computer simulation of two black holes merging and emitting gravitational waves has been developed by physicists at the University of Texas, Brownsville.
Larger Image and More Information
Theoretical Polymer Density Map
Theoretical polymer density map for a nanoparticle with "hair" made of polymer molecules.
Larger Image and More Information
Superconducting Ceramic Single Crystal
Reflected light differential interference contrast optical micrograph revealing the surface structure of a superconducting ceramic single crystal.
Larger Image and More Information
Coherent Electron Flow
Coherent flow of electrons through a quantum point contact formed in a two-dimensional electron gas inside a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. Robert Westervelt and Eric Heller, Harvard University and Arthur C. Gossard, UC Santa Barbara, Physics Today, 56 N 12 (2003).
Larger Image and More Information
Reflections of an Atom
Atoms move into the new device and then "reflect" back out, as shown in this distance vs. time plot of the experimental data.
Larger Image and More Information
A New Way to Make Elements
New research suggests that antineutrinos unleashed in supernovae can forge rare isotopes that nuclear physicists had been unable to explain.
Larger Image and More Information
Black Hole Merger
A sophisticated computer simulation of two black holes merging and emitting gravitational waves has been developed by physicists at the University of Texas, Brownsville.
Larger Image and More Information
Time Projection Chamber
The Time Projection Chamber is a key element of the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Larger Image and More Information
Ingenious Algae
The alga Calyptrolithophora papillifera is encased in a shell of calcite crystals with a two-layer structure (visible on oblique face). Calculations show that this protective covering reflects harmful ultraviolet light.
Larger Image and More Information
