Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy is normally associated with the enhanced electric fields that arise near metal nanoparticle surfaces. The contribution of field gradients has been unclear, but new ...

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated an elegantly simple technique for synthesizing a wide variety of complex "gradient compostion surfaces" ...

Driving force An experiment has confirmed that an oscillating temperature gradient boosts heat flow in fluids. (Courtesy: iStock/Mervana) Physicists in the Czech Republic have shown that heat flows ...