Surface plasmons - collective oscillations of free charges - on metal surfaces have resulted in demonstrations of enhanced optical transmission, collimation of light through a subwavelength aperture, negative permeability and refraction at visible wavelengths, and second-harmonic generation. The structures that display these plasmonic phenomena typically consist of ordered arrays of particles or holes with sizes of the order of 100 nm. At the NU-MRSEC, a new nanofabrication technique based on soft interference lithography was used to manufacture multiscale arrays of nanoparticles and nanoholes with unexpected optical properties.
Reseachers in IRG-I of the MIT MRSEC have used a new technique called aberration-corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy to take the first images of individual atoms on and near the surface of platinum and cobalt nanoparticles, which are key catalysts in the creation of eco-friendly energy storage.
Princeton researchers, in collaboration with a group at Oxford (initiated under the Oxford-Princeton Research Partnership) and at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab have shown that they can transfer a quantum state from an electron bound to a phosphorus donor atom in silicon, to the phosphorus nucleus, and then back to the electron.
The manufacture of smaller, faster and more efficient microelectronic components is a major scientific and technological challenge, driven in part by a constant need for smaller lithographically defined features and patterns.
A group led by Ong and Cava (Princeton) has reported the observation of phase transitions involving the Dirac electrons in bismuth. By monitoring the spins of the Dirac electrons, they observed sharp jumps of the magnetization MT in high magnetic field H
In a normal material, electrons repel each other due to their charge. In the copper-oxide superconductors, however, an attractive force develops between electrons that pairs them up at temperatures up to 140 degrees above absolute zero. [...]
In a recent publication in Nature, we reported bulk metallic glass (BMG) matrix
composites exhibiting >10% tensile ductility and Fracture Toughness comparable to or
exceeding the toughest metals known [1]. These high performance composites
demonstrate the potential of metallic glass as revolutionary structural metals. The BMG matrix
composites contain elastically soft dendrites comprised of Ti-Zr-Nb embedded in
a glassy matrix. Toughening and ductility are achieved by a mechanism similar to the
toughening of plastics by soft inclusions such as rubber.
Surface plasmons - collective oscillations of free charges - on metal surfaces have resulted in demonstrations of enhanced optical transmission, collimation of light through a subwavelength aperture, negative permeability and refraction at visible wavelengths, and second-harmonic generation. The structures that display these plasmonic phenomena typically consist of ordered arrays of particles or holes with sizes of the order of 100 nm. At the NU-MRSEC, a new nanofabrication technique based on soft interference lithography was used to manufacture multiscale arrays of nanoparticles and nanoholes with unexpected optical properties.
