Blog
- 23/06/2022 Quantum sensor can detect electromagnetic signals of any frequency Quantum sensors, which detect the most minute variations in magnetic or electrical fields, have enabled precision measurements in materials science and fundamental physics. But these sensors have only been capable of detecting a few specific frequencies of these fields, limiting their usefulness. Now, researchers at MIT have developed a method to enable such sensors to detect any arbitrary frequency, with no loss of their ability to measure nanometer-scale features.
- 21/06/2022 Magnetic superstructures as a promising material for 6G technology When will 6G be a reality? The race to realize sixth generation (6G) wireless communication systems requires the development of suitable magnetic materials. Scientists from Osaka Metropolitan University and their colleagues have detected an unprecedented collective resonance at high frequencies in a magnetic superstructure called a chiral spin soliton lattice (CSL), revealing CSL-hosting chiral helimagnets as a promising material for 6G technology. The study was published in Physical Review Letters.
- 16/06/2022 International team visualizes properties of plant cell walls at nanoscale To optimize biomaterials for reliable, cost-effective paper production, building construction, and biofuel development, researchers often study the structure of plant cells using techniques such as freezing plant samples or placing them in a vacuum. These methods provide valuable data but often cause permanent damage to the samples.
- 14/06/2022 Clathrate superhydride makes new high-temperature superconductor Researchers in China have synthesized a new type of high-temperature superconductor, clathrate calcium hydride (CaH6). The material, which is superconducting at temperatures of 215 K and pressures of 172 GPa (1.72 Mbar), is one of best high-temperature superhydrides made to date and the only clathrate hydride outside the family of rare-earth and actinide hydrides.
- 09/06/2022 Shining light on a fluid completely changes its dielectric permittivity Three RIKEN researchers have created a liquid whose response to an electric field can be tuned over the largest range of any known material. The fluid could find use in various applications including wearable electronics.
- 07/06/2022 Electronic self-passivation of single vacancy in black phosphorus NUS scientists discovered that a two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting material, known as black phosphorus (BP), exhibits an electronic self-passivation phenomenon by re-arranging its vacancy defects. This may potentially enhance the charge mobility of the material and its analogs.
- 02/06/2022 Collaboration reveals interplay between charge order and superconductivity at nanoscale High temperature superconductivity is something of a holy grail for researchers studying quantum materials. Superconductors, which conduct electricity without dissipating energy, promise to revolutionize our energy and telecommunication power systems. However, superconductors typically work at extremely low temperatures, requiring elaborate freezers or expensive coolants. For this reason, scientist have been relentlessly working on understanding the fundamental mechanisms at the base of high-temperature superconductivity with the ultimate goal to design and engineer new quantum materials superconducting close to room temperature.
- 31/05/2022 Ultrahigh piezoelectric performance demonstrated in ceramic materials The ability of piezoelectric materials to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy and vice versa makes them useful for various applications from robotics to communication to sensors. A new design strategy for creating ultrahigh-performing piezoelectric ceramics opens the door to even more beneficial uses for these materials, according to a team of researchers from Penn State and Michigan Technological University.
- 26/05/2022 Researchers develop new measurement method in molecular electronics In molecular electronics, single molecules are stretched between two electrodes to form an electrically conducting element in which molecular conductivity is then measured. Although the underlying method for this phenomenon, scanning tunneling microscopy, was awarded the Nobel Prize more than thirty years ago, a major limitation remains: To access molecular conductivity, the molecules to be measured had to be permanently attached to the inorganic gold electrodes, usually via sulfur bridges.
- 24/05/2022 Periodic Nanoarray of Graphene pn-Junctions on Silicon Carbide Obtained by Hydrogen Intercalation Graphene pn-junctions offer a rich portfolio of intriguing physical phenomena. They stand as the potential building blocks for a broad spectrum of future technologies, ranging from electronic lenses analogous to metamaterials in optics, to high-performance photodetectors important for a variety of optoelectronic applications. The production of graphene pn-junctions and their precise structuring at the nanoscale remains to be a challenge. In this work, a scalable method for fabricating periodic nanoarrays of graphene pn-junctions on a technologically viable semiconducting SiC substrate is introduced. Via H-intercalation, 1D confined armchair graphene nanoribbons are transformed into a single 2D graphene sheet rolling over 6H-SiC mesa structures. Due to the different surface terminations of the basal and vicinal SiC planes constituting the mesa structures, different types of charge carriers are locally induced into the graphene layer. Using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, the electronic band structure of the two graphene regions are selectively measured, finding two symmetrically doped phases with p-type being located on the basal planes and n-type on the facets. The results demonstrate that through a careful structuring of the substrate, combined with H-intercalation, integrated networks of graphene pn-junctions could be engineered at the nanoscale, paving the way for the realization of novel optoelectronic device concepts.