Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter

11/11 A loop in our genetic material

By grabbing the ends of DNA with laser beams, one can make DNA do very unusual things. It is even possible to put a loop in a DNA molecule and slide it along a second DNA molecule, even though DNA and proteins are much too small to see with a microscope! Read more

08/11 Auger Observatory closes in on long-standing mystery, links highest-energy cosmic rays with violent black holes

Figure 1. The Pierre Auger Observatory is a hybrid detector

MALARGÜE, Argentina, 8 November 2007 - Scientists of the Pierre Auger Collaboration announced today (Nov. 8) that active galactic nuclei are the most likely candidate for the source of the highest-energy cosmic rays that hit Earth. Read more

02/11 Delft University of Technology rotates electron spin with electric field

Figure 1. An electron microscope photo of a nanostructure similar to that used in the experiment

Researchers at the Delft University of Technology’s Kavli Institute of Nanoscience and the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) have succeeded in controlling the spin of a single electron merely by using electric fields. Read more

28/09 China ratifies ITER agreement

International Organisation will come into existence in 30 days

Monday 24 September 24, China has submitted a letter to the Interational Atomic Energy Agency in which it ratifies the agreement to build the international fusion reactor ITER. Read more

18/09 Rapid change of colour in nano-sized hall of mirrors

2007/38

A team of researchers from the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF) in Amsterdam and the University of Minnesota (USA) have succeeded in rapidly changing the selective colour of a nano-sized hall of mirrors – a so-called photonic band gap crystal. Read more

13/09 Controlling nature's spontaneous self-organisation

2007/37

Physicists from the Netherlands, Spain and the United States have succeeded in controlling the structure of a nanopattern that is formed spontaneously when a single layer of gallium atoms is applied to a silicon base. They also provided the first good theoretical description of this at an atomic level. Read more

03/08 Defining the thickness of polymer films by a drop of water

07NN35

Place a drop of water on a floating thin polymer sheet and wrinkles will arise around the drop. You may see this even with a plain microscope. The amount of wrinkles and their lengths appear to be a straight measure for the elasticity and the thickness of the polymer sheet. Read more

23/07 Niek Lopes Cardozo appointed as Vice-Chair 'Fusion for Energy'

'Fusion for Energy' appointed Professor Carlos Varandas as its Chair and Professor Niek Lopes Cardozo as its Vice-Chair. Read more

19/07 Magnetic data writing by using light

2007/34

Researchers of the Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM) together with a Japanese scientific team, have shown that the polarity of a magnet can be reversed by means of a very short pulse. Read more

15/07 Graphene might be a promising material for spintronics

2007/32

Spin transport, the magnetic property of electrons that, for instance, is being applied in readers of hard discs and magnetic RAM memories passes in graphene at room temperature just as well as at very low temperatures. Read more

Press releases 2007