Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden- Rossendorf (HZDR), Germany, and the TU Vienna, Austria, were at last able to reconcile important issues concerning the effects of highly charged ions on surfaces. The scientists are calling their results the missing important piece of the puzzle to help them understand the interaction of highly charged ions with surfaces.

Image: Following bombardment with highly charged ions, nano-hillocks have formed in an area of localized melting. Atomic force microscope image (HZDR). © HZDR

A.S. El-Said, R.A. Wilhelm, R. Heller, S. Facsko, C. Lemell, G. Wachter, J. Burgdörfer, R. Ritter, F. Aumayr: Phase diagram for nanostructuring CaF2 surfaces by slow highly charged ions, In: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109(2012), Article 117602, DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.117602:http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.117602

A research team from the University of Bristol’s Centre for Quantum Photonics (CQP, UK) have brought the reality of a quantum computer one step closer by experimentally demonstrating a technique for significantly reducing the physical resources required for quantum factoring.

Enrique Martín-López, Anthony Laing, Thomas Lawson, Roberto Alvarez, Xiao-Qi Zhou, Jeremy L. O‘Brien: Ex- perimental realization of Shor‘s quantum factoring algo- rithm using qubit recycling, In: Nature Photonics AOP, October 21, 2012, DOI:10.1038/nphoton.2012.259: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.259

The Centre for Quantum Photonics, UK: http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/groups/cqp/

A new type of nanoscale molecular trap makes it possible for industry to store large amounts of hydrogen in small fuel cells or capture, compact and remove volatile radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel in an affordable, easily commercialized way. But what makes this MOF, called ZIF-8, dramatically different from designs created during the past decade is its ability to distort the windows in the framework and trap large volumes of gas at relatively low pressures. ZIF-8 takes about twice the pressure of a junkyard car compactor, which is about 10 times less pressure than is needed to com- press other comparable zeolite MOFs. This creates an environmentally friendly process that is within the reach of existing industrial machinery, can be produced on a large scale and is financially viable.