These fleeting disruptions, seen for the first time in lead hybrid perovskites, may help explain why these materials are exceptionally good at turning sunlight into electrical current in solar cells.

Scientists at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource will study plastics and biologically-motivated processes that break them down in hopes of finding more efficient ways to “upcycle” them.

This leap in capability will allow scientists to investigate quantum and chemical systems more directly than ever before.

Theory suggests that quantum critical points may be analogous to black holes as places where all sorts of strange phenomena can exist in a quantum material. Now scientists are trying to pin down where this particular quantum critical point might be.