Highlights

Information stored in magnetic materials is often read-out by measuring changes in magnetoresistance. Large magnetoresistance effects are thus important for establishing well-defined memory states within materials that store information. The Illinois MRSEC discovered a new and large magnetoresistance effect generated when a topological insulator (TI) is placed on top of an ordinary magnetic insulator. The surface of the TI becomes magnetic and exhibits a  so-called surface-state anisotropic magnetoresistance. This effect is two-orders of magnitude larger than previous effects induced in similar materials.

Ferromagnetism in monolayer van der Waals materials (vdW) has recently drawn tremendous attention since they were first discovered last year. Most of the materials found, however, are semiconductors and extremely air sensitive, so a vdW material that is metallic and stable under ambient conditions is highly desirable.

The presence of isolated defects in the lattice of large band-gap semiconductors can introduce colored centers, by altering their electronic properties giving rise to transitions within the visible region.  Diamond has a rigid and dense lattice preventing defect diffusion and phase transitions under high pressure and temperature settings.

The CDCM Arts+Sciences Collaboratory Residence Program is educating MRSEC students, post-docs and faculty about the ways in which contemporary artists are using and developing advanced technologies.

Researchers at the University of Texas - Austin find that manipulating biological electron transport pathways may be a general strategy for allowing bacteria to produce or communicate with synthetic materials.

Researchers at the University of Texas - Austin have discovered a new method to separate valley index using a designed metasurface. Excitons that carry different valley index are routed toward different directions in real space and momentum space, and photons emitted go to different directions according to their helicity.

Experimental evidence in MBE-grown FeGe thin films for “chiral bobbers”, topological spin texture that exist near an interface. Theoretical modeling  predicts stable chiral bobbers in materials with both bulk and interfacial DMI. Lorentz TEM imaging of skyrmions in FeGe thinned crystals Topological Hall effect measurements of skyrmions in FeGe thin films and novel oxide heterostructures of SrIrO3/SrRuO3. Development of microwave absorption spectroscopy to probe skyrmion materials.

The CEM Internal Advisory Council, a grassroots committee of students and postdoctoral researchers, created POEM to inform the Center’s direction and improve the educational and research experiences of CEM students. 

Many advanced drugs acting in cells are made of DNA fragments.  Since DNA is biologically active and destroyed if not recognized, a major challenge for this kind of medicine is getting the DNA into selected target cells.  SMRC researchers have found that soap-like molecules that form nanometer-size spherical particles in water and that have a DNA-like component as part of their molecular structure can act as effective carriers of therapeutic DNA for cancer treatment.

Simple bent molecules like CB7CB perform some seemingly miraculous tricks when packed together to make a liquid. Because the molecular ends and middles attract each other, the molecules spontaneously knit themselves together into double stranded chains many units long, like the twisted rope in the graphic. Understanding such self-assembly is key to  creating new applications for soft materials like liquid crystals and polymers.