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IMAGE: A colony of Acropora tenuis grown in a natural sea environment and transferred to an aquarium to induce spawning. view more
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Researchers have successfully grown cells from the stony coral, Acropora tenuis, in petri dishes
The cell lines were created by separating out cells from coral larvae, which then developed into eight distinct cell types
Seven out of eight cell types were stable and could grow indefinitely, remaining viable even after freezing
Some of the cell types represented endoderm-like cells, and could therefore shed light on how coral interacts with photosynthesizing algae and how bleaching occurs
Exciting exciton breakthrough
The research team generated an image of the exciton s probability cloud by measuring the wavefunction. Credit: OIST.
Scientists have just experimentally measured the wave function of an exciton, and they’re excited about it – because they’ve been waiting a century.
An exciton is an excited state of matter, created when an electron gains energy and jumps to a higher energy level. The negatively charged electron leaves behind a positively charged empty space (a “hole”), and the two are attracted to each other and begin to orbit each other – together forming an exciton. These electrically neutral “quasiparticles” are crucially important to semiconductors, which are key to applications such as solar cells, lasers and LEDs.
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Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
Highlights
Excitons are excited particles that form when negatively charged electrons bind to positively charged holes
Researchers have now used cutting-edge technology to capture the first ever image of the electron inside of an exciton
The technique uses extreme ultraviolet light to break excitons apart and kick the electrons into the vacuum of an electron microscope
By measuring the angle at which the electrons are ejected from the material, the research team determined how the electrons and holes orbit each other in an exciton
Press Release
In a world-first, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have captured an image showing the internal orbits, or spatial distribution, of particles in an exciton – a goal that had eluded scientists for almost a century.