The week in physics: Oppenheimer in his own words; Second critical point of water

The Week in Physics ADVERTISEMENT Faster Laser Comms with Steering Mirrors Responding to rising data-rate demands, laser-based communication—from ground to satellite and beyond—is unlocking new possibilities. Piezo- and voice-coil drives deliver the speed and precision to stabilize and accurately point laser beams over thousands of miles. See our solution Oppenheimer reflects on his early career Interviews now available to the public bring the famed physicist’s lesser-known early years to life. Ryan Dahn MAY 06, 2026 Experiment closes in on a second critical point of water Precision heating of amorphous ice allows researchers to make tricky measurements of supercooled water. Sarah Wells MAY 07, 2026 Signals through salt: Building machines that use the language of biology Physiological communication relies primarily on ions to carry signals. The emerging field of bioiontronics aims to build engineered devices that can do the same. Yujia Zhang and Hagan Bayley MAY 07, 2026 ADVERTISEMENT New interactive tool: Compare US undergrad programs Built from data provided by departments nationwide, the Undergraduate Program Size Tool from AIP shows where your program fits in the national landscape of undergraduate physics and astronomy. Benchmark faculty size, explore faculty-to-student ratios, or leverage data for strategic planning and more! Use the tool now. From the vault Coffee stains, cell receptors, and time crystals: Lessons from the old literature Perhaps the most important reason to understand the deep history of a field is that it is the right thing to do. Raymond E. Goldstein SEP 01, 2018 arXiv sets out on its own In search of funding and autonomy, the preprint service is launching as a nonprofit. Jenessa Duncombe MAY 08, 2026 Brightness of the night sky is volatile By analyzing daily satellite observations, researchers identified rapid and localized brightness changes caused by human activity. Alex Lopatka MAY 04, 2026 Fluid fingers through the sand Ryan Dahn MAY 07, 2026 ADVERTISEMENT Ultrafast fiber laser: 30 fs now with 3 W HÜBNER Photonics announces a higher power model of the VALO Tidal femtosecond laser. Now available with 3 W, the VALO Tidal delivers pulse durations of typically 30 fs in a compact and robust footprint, making it perfect for multiphoton imaging, broadband terahertz generation, and nonlinear wafer inspection. Post a Job Get Job Alerts Browse All Jobs Postdoc Researcher – Fast in situ tomography for mechanical load experiments Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (Hamburg (DE)) View Job Team Director (Principal Investigator, Indefinite-term) (25-3619) RIKEN (Japan (JP)) View Job AI Fellow Positions at Korea Institute for Advanced Study KIAS (South Korea) View Job Chief Executive Officer American Astronomical Society (Washington D.C.) View Job Scientist II Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, California) View Job Chief Operations Officer Zero Point Cryogenics (Edmonton (City), Alberta (CA)) View Job Physics Today is published by the American Institute of Physics. To manage your AIP email preferences and newsletter subscriptions, click here. Or unsubscribe from all AIP emails. © 2026 American Institute of Physics Physics Today 1 Physics Ellipse College Park, MD 20740 +1 301 209 3100

Atomic and Molecular Physics Topic Alert

Read the latest articles in Atomic and Molecular Physics View in Browser OUR JOURNALS MANAGE MY ALERTS ABOUT AIP PUBLISHING Atomic and Molecular Physics  May 2026 Topic Alert ALL ARTICLES > Titanium alloy response sensitivity to variations in spectral reconstructions of National Ignition Facility xenon line-emission x-ray sources M. Schoenzeit,P. L. Poole,G. E. Kemp,B. E. Blue,D. Hinshelwood,S. Lees,I. Lopez,M. May,S. J. Moon,C. Noble,M. Parrott,P. Porazik,K. Widmann,A. M. Saunders READ MORE > High-field tunneling electroluminescence via orbital-selective emission in BSCCO/WSe2 heterostructure Nansen Chen,Xiqi Liang,Fengnan Chen,Aolong Guo,Joel Moser,Tao Wu,Leilei Nian,Lianlian Ji,Fang-Sen Li,Junfeng He,Ting Zhang,Jian-Hua Jiang,Qiangqiang Gu,Dongxue Chen READ MORE > Follow us on social media   Copyright © 2026 AIP Publishing. All rights reserved. 1305 Walt Whitman Rd., Melville, NY 11747 You are receiving this email because you have opted-in to receive alerts from us. To guarantee delivery of this email please add alerts@aip-info.org to your address book and safe senders list. If you no longer wish to receive emails from us then please unsubscribe or amend your settings. Privacy Policy