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Science Briefs

Detecting Phonon Overtones in Correlated Materials

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) has recently been shown to be a promising technique for studying electron–phonon coupling in correlated materials. When a photoexcited electron interacts with phonons during decay, it shows up in the RIXS spectra as clear phonon overtones: higher-order excitations that appear as ripples in intensity. Read more »

Stress-Induced Structural Transformations in Gold Nanocrystals

Metallic nanocrystals are widely used in catalysis, electronics, photonics, and sensing applications, but our understanding of their stability under operational stresses is limited. These studies of gold nanocrystals at high pressures found that large-scale structural transformation is possible and must be considered at the nanoscale. Read more »

Understanding Electronic Structure in MXenes, One Atomic Layer at a Time

MXenes are 2D materials that can host a rich array of distinct chemical compositions that can be tuned for a broad range of applications, from energy storage to water purification. Site-specific x-ray absorption spectroscopy helped identify the unique roles of surface and subsurface transition-metal atoms in Ti-based MXenes. Read more »

Characterization of EUV Optics using Intrinsic Mask Roughness

Researchers developed an in situ computational technique for measuring aberrations in EUV optics, taking advantage of the surface roughness of photomasks used to transfer circuit patterns onto chips. The technique will prove increasingly valuable in the characterization of coherent light sources and beamline optical systems. Read more »

Missing Lysine Link Could Improve Plant-Based Nutrition

To engineer crops with higher levels of the important amino acid, lysine, researchers solved the structure of an enzyme that helps break down lysine in plants. A fuller understanding of the factors affecting lysine levels should aid in the successful development of stable high-lysine crops to combat malnutrition globally. Read more »

Small but Still Mighty: Ultrafine Grains Produce Ultrastrong Metals

Researchers used in situ high-pressure diffraction to resolve a debate about whether a metal’s strength increases or decreases when its grain size decreases below a critical point. The results indicate that ultrastrong metals for future applications can indeed be achieved through grain-size refinement and grain-boundary engineering. Read more »

Rotavirus VP3 Is a Multifunctional Capping Machine

Rotavirus, a major cause of infantile gastroenteritis, is responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 children per year. Although vaccines are available, the virus still circulates, and a fuller understanding of the viral structures is needed. Here, scientists investigate the structure and function of the last unsolved rotavirus structural protein. Read more »

Artificial Antiferromagnets Facilitate Studies of Domain-Wall Motion

Researchers fabricated artificial spin lattices that undergo a paramagnetic-to-antiferromagnetic phase transition. These artificial antiferromagnets enable studies of dynamical properties that are critical to understanding, and ultimately implementing, real-world applications such as advanced computing and data-storage technologies. Read more »

COSMIC Probes Evolution of Single-Atom Platinum Catalyst

Researchers synthesized a single-atom platinum catalyst that outperformed, by a factor of 15, conventional platinum-based catalysts, which are used for fuel cells and automotive emissions control. Operando x-ray spectromicroscopy at the ALS’s COSMIC beamline revealed how electronic interactions affect the material’s morphology. Read more »