Skip to main content

ALS

Home / All items tagged with Materials Sciences

Probing Walls between Electrically Polarized Domains

Researchers used infrared light to investigate the properties of the domain walls that separate electrically polarized (ferroelectric) regions in a rare-earth ferrite material. An understanding of domain-wall behavior is relevant to the development of advanced logic and memory applications for ultralow-power digital devices. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35

Raman and Far-Infrared Synchrotron Nanospectroscopy of Layered Crystalline Talc: Vibrational Properties, Interlayer Coupling, and Symmetry Crossover

Talc is an electrical insulator and an excellent target for low-cost, heterostructure-based optoelectronic applications. Here, light-matter interactions and their consequences at the nanoscale-thickness limit are probed using Raman spectroscopy, near-field synchrotron infrared nanospectroscopy, and first-principles calculations. Read more »

Doped Nickelate Enters a New Phase with Spintronics Potential

Rare-earth nickelates are known to undergo a metal-to-insulator phase transition as temperature decreases, the mechanism of which is not well understood. Here, researchers observed a new low-temperature phase that’s both metallic and antiferromagnetic—an unusual combination with potential value in spintronics. Read more »

Intrinsically Chiral Twist-Bend Nematogens: Interplay of Molecular and Structural Chirality in the NTB Phase

Cartoon depiction of the formation of the heliconical chiral twist-bend nematic phase (N*TB) from its constituent bent molecules. The presence of a single enantiomer of the chiral, lactate-based liquid crystal dimers biases the formation of helices with only one handedness, unlike in the conventional NTB phase, observed for achiral molecules, for which the left- and right-handed helices are doubly degenerate. Read more »

Under Pressure, Gold Nanoclusters Reveal Structure-Property Relationship

Metal nanoclusters have unusual optical properties that are of interest for fundamental reasons as well as for applications like diagnostic imaging and 3D printing. To better understand how nanocluster structure relates to optical properties, researchers performed high-pressure diffraction studies on single crystals of gold nanoclusters. Read more »

A 2D Electron Liquid Floats on a Crystal Surface

Researchers discovered a liquid-like layer of electrons that floats on the surface of an unusual crystal and appears to undergo a phase transition upon doping. The system is an ideal platform for studying exotic phenomena involving electrons (e.g. superconductivity) without complications arising from other types of interactions. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35

Copper Migrates to Surface of Topological Insulator in Air

An ambient-pressure study of a topological insulator doped with copper revealed that the copper atoms, inserted between the material’s layers, migrate to the surface when exposed to air. The work represents a novel way of modifying the material’s surface composition, which can confer it with new properties such as superconductivity. Read more »

Percolating Puddles in Rich Quantum Landscapes

Combining x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) with scanning micro x-ray diffraction (SµXRD), researchers found that charge density wave domains (known as “puddles”) in a nickelate material exhibit two types of dynamics: small puddles actively “percolate” (fluctuate in size and shape), while large puddles are more static. Read more »

Charge Density Wave Found in Magnetic Kagome Crystal

Researchers discovered a wave-like charge order in a magnetic material with a “kagome” geometric structure and obtained clues to the order’s origins in the material’s electronic structure. By helping to connect certain structures with emergent quantum properties, the work brings us a step closer to the goal of creating materials by design. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35