Blog
- MicroscopyGPT: Generating Atomic-Structure Captions from Microscopy Images of 2D Materials with Vision-Language Transformers 12/09/2025 Determining complete atomic structures directly from microscopy images remains a long-standing challenge in materials science. MicroscopyGPT is a vision-language model (VLM) that leverages multimodal generative pretrained transformers to predict full atomic configurations, including lattice parameters, element types, and atomic coordinates, from scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images. The model is trained on a chemically and structurally diverse data set of simulated STEM images generated using the AtomVision tool and the JARVIS-DFT as well as the C2DB two-dimensional (2D) materials databases. The training set for fine-tuning comprises approximately 5000 2D materials, enabling the model to learn complex mappings from image features to crystallographic representations. I fine-tune the 11-billion-parameter LLaMA model, allowing efficient training on resource-constrained hardware. The rise of VLMs and the growth of materials data sets offer a major opportunity for microscopy-based analysis. This work highlights the potential of automated structure reconstruction from microscopy, with broad implications for materials discovery, nanotechnology, and catalysis.
- Material design strategy unlocks magnetic tunability in quasicrystal approximants 11/09/2025 In stoichiometric compounds (compounds with fixed ratios of elements), the elemental ratios are dictated by chemical stability, which constrains how much the composition, and consequently the number of valence electron-per-atom (e/a) ratio, can be adjusted. Tuning e/a has proved to be a promising strategy to architect magnetic properties in many intermetallic compounds, especially those with complex structures including quasicrystals (QCs) and their structurally related approximant crystals (ACs).
- Stretchable nanofilms unlock tunable magnetic properties, paving way for advanced electronics 09/09/2025 Scientists at The University of Osaka and Tohoku University have developed a technique for creating nanoscale magnetic thin films with embedded functionality. By leveraging the stretchability of flexible substrates, they can precisely control the atomic spacing within these nanofilms, effectively "programming" desired magnetic properties directly into the material.
- A new iron compound hints ‘primordial’ helium hides in Earth’s core 04/09/2025 Helium atoms filled gaps in iron crystals under high pressure and temperature
- Scientists develop technology to grow semiconductor single crystals at temperatures exceeding 2,200°C 02/09/2025 The single crystals currently used in semiconductors, electronic devices, and optical devices can't take the heat. This is because the materials typically used to make them—such as iridium and platinum—have a melting point below 2,200°C. Creating single crystals that can withstand these extreme temperatures is a challenge that has been unmet until now.
- Researchers discover magnetic equivalent of the Lyddane-Sachs-Teller relation 28/08/2025 Materials are known to interact with electromagnetic fields in different ways, which reflect their structures and underlying properties. The Lyddane-Sachs-Teller relation is a physics construct that describes the relationship between a material's static and dynamic dielectric constant (i.e., values indicating a system's behavior in the presence or absence of an external electric field, respectively) and the vibrational modes of the material's crystal lattice (i.e., resonance frequencies).
- First on-chip multipartite entanglement achieved with optical microcomb 26/08/2025 A recent study has realized multipartite entanglement on an optical chip for the first time, constituting a significant advance for scalable quantum information. The paper, titled "Continuous-variable multipartite entanglement in an integrated microcomb," is published in Nature.
- Vortion, a new magnetic state able to mimic neuronal synapses 21/08/2025 Researchers from the Department of Physics have managed to experimentally develop a new magnetic state: a magneto-ionic vortex or "vortion." The research, published in Nature Communications, allows for an unprecedented level of control of magnetic properties at the nanoscale and at room temperature, and opens new horizons for the development of advanced magnetic devices.
- 3D imaging technique captures dynamic atomic shifts in nanoparticles, revealing unexpected structural phases 19/08/2025 A research team from Seoul National University College of Engineering has developed a technology to observe atomic structural changes of nanoparticles in three dimensions. Their study, which resolves a long-standing challenge even past Nobel laureates could not solve, was published online in Nature Communications on January 29.
- Quantum Design to Acquire NanoScience Division of Oxford Instruments 12/06/2025 Quantum Design is pleased to announce it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the NanoScience Division of Oxford Instruments, located in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
- Onion-like nanoparticles found in aircraft exhaust 10/06/2025 A research team from the National Institute for Environmental Studies (Japan), Zurich University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland), Tokyo Metropolitan University (Japan), and other institutions conducted emission tests on aircraft engines and examined the shapes and internal structures of the exhaust particles with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.