Highlights
Jul 12, 2010
University of Colorado at Boulder
Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal on Silicon-Based Picoprojectors
Picoprojection is the
latest advanced display technology enabled by ferroelectric liquid crystal on
silicon microdisplays,
developed by LCMRC spin-off company, industrial partner, and collaborator Displaytech, now a
division of Micron, Inc.. LCMRC researchers pursue new liquid crystal materials
and alignment systems enabling low power consumption bistable liquid
crystal switching.
Jul 9, 2010
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Assembly of Polymer-Functionalized Nanoparticles on Metal Droplets for Electronics
Dinsmore at the UMass Materials Research Science and Engineering Center demonstrated a simple and robust approach to fabricating nano-scale electrical contacts to nanoparticles. PEGfunctionalized nanoparticles assemble spontaneously on droplets of liquid metal; when two droplets are brought into contact, they remain separated by the nanoparticles at the interface (top figure). Junctions formed by this method show electron transport that is limited by the nanoparticles (bottom figure). The conductance can be tuned by a gate electrode to make transistors at the micronscale.
Jul 9, 2010
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Education Outreach Programs at The Boston Museum of Science
A group of MRSEC researchers, staff, and graduate students visited the Boston Museum of Science on July 15, 2009 for a day of public demonstrations and presentations to encourage thought and discussion about polymers. The Ventures in Science Using Art Laboratory (VISUAL) program had an ongoing exhibit of images at the Museum from May through August, and coordinated a presentation to teach the audience about materials and capture their attention using visually striking images gathered during the course of MRSEC research at UMass.
Jul 7, 2010
University of Colorado at Boulder
Exotic Phases of Banana-Shaped Molecules
L. E. Hough, H. T. Jung, D. Krüerke, M. S. Heberling, M. Nakata, C. D. Jones, D. Chen, D. R. Link, J. Zasadzinski, G. Heppke, J. P. Rabe, W. Stocker, E. Körblova, D. M. Walba, M. A. Glaser, and N. A. Clark
Banana shaped molecules, like the one shown in the
figure, like to pack into layers but when they do, they have a hard time making
flat ones. Their layers have a
strong tendency to buckle up into saddles, and when the saddles try to fill
space interesting things happen.
If the layers are crystal-like they can only form the twisted nanofilaments
in the top of the image. If the
layers are fluid, like in a liquid crystal, then they form the "plumbers
nightmare" of nested tubes and connections, the "sponge phase",at the
Jun 21, 2010
California Institute of Technology
Quantifying 3D Traction Forces of Epithelial Cell Clusters
Anand Asthagiri and Guruswami Ravichandran
When cells assemble together in a
cluster, they apply force to each other.
The way in which cells signal each
other with and respond to forces is not
well understood. Therefore, we study
the traction forces cells apply to the
substrate beneath them. The results
show exterior cells apply tractions to
the substrate that are an order of
Jun 21, 2010
California Institute of Technology
“Stretchy” Near-Infrared Metamaterials
Harry A. Atwater, Koray Aydin*, Imogen M. Pryce* and Dennis M. Callahan *CSEM supported researchers
Metamaterials are engineered
structures with novel
electromagnetic properties
such as artificial magnetism,
negative refraction, and
cloaking. Thus far, most
metamaterial designs have
been limited to fixed, narrow
frequency range of operation
determined by the size of the
constitutive resonator
elements. Work within the
NSF funded Center for the
Jun 21, 2010
Harvard University
Soft Matter Science revealed through Cooking
Acclaimed chef Jose Andres visited the
Harvard MRSEC to collaborate with Center researchers and speak to students in
the ES139. Innovations in
Science and Engineering class; the laboratory and classroom
discussions were filmed for a feature on 60
Minutes through a special agreement with the
Jun 21, 2010
Harvard University
Entropy Favors Asymmetry in Colloidal Self-Assembly
Guangnan Meng, Natalie Arkus, Michael P. Brenner, and Vinothan N. Manoharan
Two self-assembled colloidal clusters, as seen under the optical microscope. The cluster on the left, a tri-tetrahedron, and the cluster on the right, an octahedron, have the same energy. But in an experiment where both clusters are allowed to form randomly in solution, the less symmetric tri-tetrahedron occurs more than twenty times as often as the highly symmetric octahedron because of the many more ways to form the tri-tetrahedron.
Jun 14, 2010
Princeton University
Topological Protection Against Backscattering
P. Roushan, J. Seo, C. V. Parker, Y.-S. Hor, D. Hsieh, D Qian, A. Richardella, M. Z. Hasan, R. J. Cava and A. Yazdani (Princeton University)
Topological insulators are a new class of insulators in which a bulk gap for electronic excitations is generated by strong spin-orbit coupling.
Jun 7, 2010
Carnegie Mellon University
CMU MRSEC Hosts over 60 scientists at the 1st Summer School on 3D Microstructure Studies
On June 1st -4th, 2010, CMU hosted 67 scientists from around the world
at the 1st Summer School on 3D Microstructure Studies. MRSEC Faculty,
graduate students and researchers introduced the techniques that were
developed and continue to be developed here at CMU to characterize of
the internal structure of polycrystalline materials. The school
consisted of a mix of lectures, demonstrations and hands-on interactive
activities for the participants. Sections were taught on measuring the
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