Experiments at the ALS showed how magnetic Co atoms sandwiched between TaS2 layers reshape the material’s electronic structure. Understanding how unusual magnetic order influences electron movements in new quantum material CoxTaS2 could guide its use in advanced quantum technologies based on spintronics and valleytronics. Read more »
X-Ray Magnetometer Advances Characterization of Magnetic Nanofilms
Using X-ray interferometry at the ALS, researchers characterized key optical and functional properties of magnetic materials with high sensitivity. This novel magnetometer scheme could accelerate discovery of magnetic thin film materials with broad applications across modern technology. Read more »
A New Framework for Designing Synthetic Enzymes
Researchers engineered protein-like polymers that replicate complex enzyme functions. This work, which was verified using X-ray characterization techniques at the ALS, offers a cost-effective, scalable approach that paves the way for functional materials in biomedicine, energy, and manufacturing. Read more »
Infrared Nanospectroscopy Reveals Behaviors of Ionic Liquids
Researchers used infrared spectroscopy at the ALS to detect the molecular behaviors of ionic liquids—which serve as high performance electrolytes in energy storage devices—under varying charge bias conditions. Their insights define a direction for targeted design of ionic liquid-based electrolytes with optimized properties for energy storage applications. Read more »
Local Disorder Impacts a Quantum Material’s Electronic States
Machine learning tools and experiments at the ALS enabled the identification of defect-rich regions in single-crystalline Co3Sn2S2 that link to how surface electrons move. Atom-level understanding of how the surface electronic properties of a magnetic semimetal can be tuned could guide its use in advanced technologies like spintronics and catalysis. Read more »
Altermagnetism All the Way Down
Altermagnets are an emerging class of magnetic materials that offer the potential for energy-efficient, high-density memory chips. Researchers at Penn State, UC Santa Barbara, and the ALS demonstrated that characteristic altermagnetic band splitting in chromium antimonide is evident in thin films relevant for real-world device application. Read more »
Dynamic Surface Restructuring in Ag–Cu Boosts CO2 Conversion
Multimodal in situ x-ray experiments at the ALS revealed how copper–silver nanoparticle catalysts evolve during CO2 photoreduction. The findings, which demonstrate dynamic catalyst restructuring at the atomic level, provide crucial insights for enhancing the selectivity and efficiency of CO2 conversion into high-value chemicals. Read more » 
Robotics Project Pushes Toward Self-Driving Materials Optimization
A new multi-disciplinary team aims to automate complex sample handling at Beamline 7.3.3, leveraging AI and robotics to speed up material optimization and discovery. Read more »
Building Materials from the Nanocrystal Up
Researchers used the Advanced Light Source to clarify how an unusual intermediate state accelerates the transformation of nanocrystals into a superlattice during a two-step process with fewer defects than a one-step process. Read more »
Nematic Magnetic Helices Fluctuate at Different Tempos
During a series of experiments at the ALS, researchers identified helical magnetic spins that fluctuate at different time scales during a phase transition as a function of temperature in a nematic iron germanium thin film. The results provide a framework for characterizing exotic phases, which may have interesting optical and transport properties for microelectronics and spintronics. Read more »
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