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Highlights

Mar 1, 2010
Carnegie Mellon University MRSEC (2005)

Grain Boundary Energy from Experiment and Simulation

G.S. Rohrer, A.D. Rollett Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA D.L. Olmsted, S.M. Foiles, E.A. Holm Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM

A collaboration between the CMU MRSEC and Sandia National Laboratory has permitted the first large scale comparison between experimentally measured grain boundary energies and energies calculated based on atomistic simulations. The techniques for the measurement (at CMU) and the calculations (Sandia) are unique to each institution and largest experimental and theoretical data sets currently available. The favorable comparison validates the methods.
Feb 26, 2010
UPENN Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers

Cell Motility Driven by Actin Polymerization: A New Proposed Mechanism

K. C. Lee and A. J. Liu

In designing new motile materials, much can be learned by studying the physical mechanisms underlying cell crawling. One important form of cell crawling is driven by self-assembly of the protein actin. In this process, energy is supplied and various proteins cooperate to assemble
Feb 18, 2010
Princeton Center for Complex Materials (2014)

Ultra-Fast Electrically Driven Single Spin Rotations

Jason Petta - Department of Physics, Princeton University; Hong Lu - Materials Department, University of California at Santa Barbara; Art Gossard - Materials Department, University of California at Santa Barbara

A single electron spin in an external magnetic field forms a two-level system that can be used to create a spin qubit. However, achieving fast single spin rotations, as would be required to control a spin qubit, is a major challenge. It is difficult to drive spin rotations on timescales that are faster than the spin dephasing time and to individually address a single spin on the nanometer scale. We have developed a new method for quantum control of single spins that does not involve conventional electron spin resonance (ESR).
Feb 11, 2010

Spin Transport in Nanowires

M. Tian, J. Wang, D. Rench, J. Cardellino, P. Schiffer, T. Mallouk, M. Chan and N. Samarth - Penn State University

The interplay between spin transport and exchange coupling profoundly affects charge transport between conventional metals and ferromagnets. This results in  giant magnetoresistance and the spin valve effect in multilayer thin films, phenomena of great importance for magnetic data storage. MRSEC researchers have developed Co-Cu-Co multilayer nanowires to explore these phenomena in nanowire geometries. 
Feb 9, 2010
NYU Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (2014)

Discover Magazine Names NYU Physics Finding One of Top Stories of 2009

The NYU team, led by Jasna Brujic, an assistant professor in NYU’s Department of Physics, developed an innovative way to tabulate the number of spheres-they created a method for determining how spheres pack from inside the jar, making it easier to more accurately count them.