Ancient terra sigillata ceramics were the most famous and ubiquitous Roman tableware, yet when their manufacturing spread to other locations, some of the ceramics’ characteristics changed. Researchers from France and the ALS traced the changes.
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The Butterfly Effect on Magnetic Vortices
A recent x-ray microscopy study at ALS Beamline 6.1.2 provided evidence that the ultrafast dynamics preceding magnetic vortex formation exhibits the characteristic chaotic behavior known as the butterfly effect, where minute changes can significantly determine the final outcome of a process.
Antiferromagnetic Spins Do The Twist
At ALS Beamline 4.0.2, researchers have found that the spins in an antiferromagnetic nanolayer perform a version of “The Twist,” turning one way and then the other, challenging a model that has been a cornerstone of exchange-bias theory for 27 years.
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Rare Iron Oxide in Ancient Chinese Pottery
New analysis of ancient Jian ware reveals that the distinctive pottery contains an unexpected and highly unusual form of iron oxide. This rare compound was only recently discovered and characterized by scientists and so far has been extremely difficult to create with modern techniques.
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Record-Setting Microscopy Illuminates Energy Storage Materials
Using soft x-ray ptychography, researchers at the ALS have demonstrated the highest-resolution x-ray microscopy ever achieved by imaging five-nanometer structures. The researchers used ptychographic imaging to map the chemical composition of lithium iron phosphate nanocrystals, yielding important new insights into a material of high interest for electrochemical energy storage. Read more »
New ALS Technique Guides IBM in Next-Generation Semiconductor Development
A new measurement technique developed at the ALS is helping guide the semiconductor industry in next-generation nanopatterning techniques. NIST and IBM researchers collaborated on the technique, which allows scientists to evaluate the 3D buried features inside a film. The ALS is currently the only place in the world that has such capability.
The Electronic Structure of a Two-Dimensional Pure Copper Oxide Lattice
All superconducting cuprates share a common structure: charge reservoirs stacked between layers of CuO2. An undoped version, including only C and O, is not available in nature. By growing epitaxial films with a pulsed-laser deposition facility, researchers stabilized a 2D version of CuO, which can be thought as composed by two CuO2 planes staggered and superposed.
An Iridate with Fermi Arcs
Researchers have discovered that “Fermi arcs,” much-debated features found in the electronic structure of high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) cuprates, can also be found in an iridate (iridium oxide) compound—strontium iridate. Read more »
Skyrmion Behavior Revealed by Two X-Ray Studies
Two research groups have recently published separate studies in which soft x-rays reveal how skyrmions—quasiparticles made up of spin vortices—react to external fields. Their work lays the foundation for understanding these fascinating constructs and eventually utilizing them in spintronic applications. Read more »
Graphene’s 3D Counterpart
ALS researchers have discovered a material that is essentially a 3D version of graphene — the 2D sheets of carbon through which electrons race at many times the speed at which they move through silicon. The discovery promises exciting new things to come for the high-tech industry, including much faster transistors and far more compact hard drives. Read more »