Superfluids

Princeton University researchers are using lasers to shed light on the behaviour of superfluids — strange, frictionless liquids that are difficult to create and study. The odd behaviour of particles in superfluids, which move together instead of at random, has been observed in light waves that pass through certain materials known as nonlinear crystals. The team relied on this underappreciated correlation to use laser light as a substitute, or model, for superfluids in experiments. Their results will be published in the January 2007 issue of Nature Physics. Their work could heighten the current understanding of condensed matter physics as well as lead to advances in sensor technology and optical communications.

Planet hunt

The COROT (COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits) space telescope, designed to search for planets not much bigger than Earth, launched into space on December 27 from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mission is expected to provide a better understanding of planets smaller than Saturn, of which only a small number of examples are known so far. The satellite will use its 27-centimetre telescope to search for dips of light due to planets passing in front of their parent stars in events called transits. The COROT mission is led by France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) with participation from the European Space Agency (ESA).