Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien)

Two electrons push X-ray generation past a textbook cutoff

Host institution for the helium experiment

For decades, the rule for laser-driven X-ray emission was one electron, one cutoff. A freed electron could gain only so much energy from a laser field before it returned to its atom, and the light it released faded above a predictable maximum. A team at TU Wien and the University of California San Diego has now exceeded that limit in helium by timing two electrons to return together.

Updated Nov 1

First thorium nuclear clocks begin ticking in Vienna and Beijing

New Capabilities

As of October 2026: Built the first self-stabilizing nuclear clock

For 70 years, the world's most precise clocks have counted the vibrations of electrons orbiting an atom. In early October 2026, two teams — one in Vienna, one in Beijing — unveiled the first clocks that read time from the ticking of a thorium nucleus instead.

Updated Oct 11

The century-long quest to reconcile quantum mechanics with gravity

New Capabilities

As of May 2026: Published the q-desic equation framework

For a century, physics has rested on two incompatible frameworks: quantum mechanics (governing atoms and subatomic particles) and Einstein's general relativity (describing gravity as spacetime curvature). Every attempt to merge them produced mathematical infinities or unmeasurable predictions. Vienna University of Technology's "q-desic equation" (Physical Review D) may break this deadlock: quantum corrections to particle paths become observable at cosmological distances when the cosmological constant is included.

Updated May 30

Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien)

Stories

Two electrons push X-ray generation past a textbook cutoff

First thorium nuclear clocks begin ticking in Vienna and Beijing

The century-long quest to reconcile quantum mechanics with gravity