[math-fun] "Q-carbon"

New solid phase of carbon found, allegedly harder than diamond (!), supposedly may occur naturally inside some planetary cores. It is ferromagnetic (!). Created by heating a thin film of amorphous carbon to over 4000K with a huge power 200 nanosecond laser flash. "Novel Phase of Carbon, Ferromagnetism and Conversion into Diamond" will be published online Nov. 30 in the Journal of Applied Physics. "Direct conversion of amorphous carbon into diamond at ambient pressures and temperatures in air" Oct. 7 in the journal APL Materials. -- Warren D. Smith http://RangeVoting.org <-- add your endorsement (by clicking "endorse" as 1st step)