UO physicists aid in first neutrino detection from collider

Eric Torrence, professor; Deion Fellers, graduate student; Daniela Koeck, postdoctoral researcher; Ansh Desai, graduate student

For the first time, scientists have detected neutrinos created by a particle collider, and University of Oregon physicists are part of the international team that made the advance. The discovery opens up a new way to study fundamental building blocks of the universe and answer big questions about the cosmos. Known as FASER, or the Forward Search Experiment, the team’s detector captured high-energy neutrinos generated by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

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See how quantum 'weirdness' is improving electron microscopes

Ben McMorran, associate professor; Amy Turner, graduate student; Cameron Johnson, graduate student

Quantum weirdness is opening new doors for electron microscopes, powerful tools used for high-resolution imaging. Two new advances from the lab of UO physicist Ben McMorran are refining the microscopes. Both come from taking advantage of a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics: that an electron can behave simultaneously like a wave and a particle. It’s one of many examples of weird, quantum-level quirks in which subatomic particles often behave in ways that seem to violate the laws of classical physics.

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Bio-inspired technology could one day lead to a bionic eye

Richard Taylor, professor; Saba Moslehi, postdoctoral researcher; Conor Rowland, graduate student; Julian Smith, graduate student; William Watterson, graduate student; David Miller, graduate student; Cristopher Niell, associate professor; Benjamín Alemán, associate professor

A new design for eye and brain implants draws its inspiration from nature. UO researchers have grown rodent retinal neurons on a fractal-patterned electrode, one that mimics the repeating branching pattern in which neurons naturally grow. It’s a step closer to making a bio-inspired bionic eye, a longstanding goal for UO physicist Richard Taylor.

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