VM

1664 posts

A new beast: antiferromagnetic quasicrystals

5 min read
Scicomm antiferromagnetism approximant crystals arc melting crystallography Curie-Weiss temperature electron diffraction ferromagnetism magnetic order magnetisation neutron diffraction quantum spin quasicrystals quasiperiodic order rare-earth elements specific heat spintronics Tsai quasicrystal X-ray diffraction

Scientists have made a new material that is both a quasicrystal and antiferromagnetic — a combination never seen before. Quasicrystals are a special kind of solid. Unlike normal crystals, whose atoms…

Enfeebling the Indian space programme

6 min read
Analysis Science Axiom Space Axiom-4 Bharatiya Janata Party Board of Control for Cricket in India Chandrayaan 2 Covaxin Department of Space Election Commission of India Falcon 9 HUNOR Indian Space Research Organisation K Sivan NASA political capture Prime Minister Narendra Modi S Somanath Shubhanshu Shukla SpaceX V Narayanan VG Somani Vikram lander

There's no denying that there currently prevails a public culture in India that equates criticism, even well-reasoned, with pooh-poohing. It's especially pronounced in certain geographies wher…

Why do quasicrystals exist?

8 min read
Scicomm crystallography Dan Shechtman density functional theory DFT-FE enthalpy entropy finite element analysis fivefold symmetry graphics processing unit Linus Carl Pauling nucleation phase diagram quasicrystals scandium-zinc surface energy translational symmetry unit cell ytterbium-cadmium

Featured image: An example of zellij tilework in the Al Attarine Madrasa in Fes, Morocco (2012), with complex geometric patterns on the lower walls and a band of calligraphy above. Caption and credit:…

Technical foundation for a muon collider laid at J-PARC

7 min read
Scicomm Science electron-positron collider ionisation laser J-PARC Large Hadron Collider linear collider muon collider muons proton-proton collider radiofrequency cavity radiofrequency quadrupole synchrotron radiation thermal energy transverse emittance

Featured image: All matter around us is made of elementary particles, the building blocks of matter. These particles occur in two basic types called quarks and leptons. Each group consists of six part…

Technical foundation for a muon collider laid at J-PARC

7 min read
Scicomm Science electron-positron collider ionisation laser J-PARC Large Hadron Collider linear collider muon collider muons proton-proton collider radiofrequency cavity radiofrequency quadrupole synchrotron radiation thermal energy transverse emittance

A particle collider is a machine that energises two beams of subatomic particles and smashes them head on. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe is the world's largest and most famous particl…

Four years

6 min read
Analysis Life notes Scicomm Science Air India Axiom Space Axiom-4 bourgeois science CP Snow engineering engineering education flight crash Indian Space Research Organisation International Atomic Energy Agency Israel-Iran conflict materialism MV Ramana Nick Chavez nuclear weapons science journalism SpaceX temporary expertise two cultures

Engineering as a methodology … contains a fundamentally materialist kernel, even if its present incarnation as a bourgeois science drives engineers to think and behave otherwise. — Nick Chavez, Engin…