Highlights

Dec 9, 2014

MIT Center for Materials Science and Engineering (2014)

Science Image Specialist Felice Frankel Teaches Masterclasses on the Visual Communication of Materials Science and Engineering

Nearly 300 postdoctoral researchers and graduate students attended masterclasses on the visual communication of materials science and engineering between October 2013 and January 2014. At programs offered in partnership with the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering, Felice Frankel, research specialist at the MIT MRSEC, presented 90-minute talks addressing common errors students and faculty make in the graphics and images used in their presentations and publications.

Nov 20, 2014

Princeton Center for Complex Materials (2014)

Observation of Majorana fermions in a ferromagnetic chains on a superconductor

Stevan Nadj-Perge, Ilya K. Drozdov, Jian Li, Hua Chen, Sangjun Jeon, Jungpil Seo, Allan H. MacDonald, B. Andrei Bernevig, and Ali Yazdani.

Topological superconductors are a distinct form of matter that is predicted to host boundary Majorana fermions. These quasi-particles are the emergent condensed matter analogs of the putative elementary spin-1/2 particles originally proposed by Ettore Majorana in the 1930’s with the intriguing property of being their own anti-particles. The search for Majorana quasi-particle bound states in condensed matter systems is motivated in part by their potential use as topological qubits to perform fault-tolerant computation aided by their

Nov 20, 2014

Princeton Center for Complex Materials (2014)

Ultrahigh Electron Mobility in a Dirac semimetal

T. Liang, Q. Gibson, M. Ali, M. Liu, R.J. Cava, N.P. Ong

Nov 13, 2014

Immucor Acquires Sentilus for Microarray-Based Diagnostics Technology

Immucor, Inc., a global leader in transfusion and transplantation diagnostics, has acquired Sentilus, Inc., a company focused on developing a novel, inkjet-printed antibody microarray-based technology called Femtoarrays™.

Nov 13, 2014

Shape-Shifting Liquid Metal Becomes a Reality

Mohammad Rashed Khan, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 Collin B. Eaker, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 Edmond F. Bowden, Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 Michael D. Dickey, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695

Terminator 2 is widely remembered for its metal shape-shifting villain. Impervious to bullets, explosives, and fire, theT-1000 robot was capable of changing shape at will. Researchers at the North Carolina State University have taken a step towards making science fiction a reality by developing a technique for controlling the surface tension of liquid metals using very low voltages. This technology paves the way for shape-reconfigurable metal components in electronic, electromagnetic, and microfluidic devices.

Sep 11, 2014

Next Generation Materials for Plasmonics and Organic Spintronics (2011)

Magnetic Properties of Periodically Organized Cobalt Frameworks

Golda Hukic-Markosian, Post Doctoral Researcher, IRG 1, University of Utah MRSEC; Yaxin Zhai, Graduate Student Researcher, IRG 2, University of Utah MRSEC; Danielle E. Montanari, Graduate Student Researcher, IRG 1, University of Utah MRSEC; Steven Ott, Undergraduate Student Researcher, IRG 1 , University of Utah MRSEC; Adriane Braun, 2013 REU Program Participant, Westminster College; Dali Sun, Post Doctoral Researcher, IRG 2, University of Utah MRSEC, Zeev V. Vardeny, Distinguished Professor of Physics, University of Utah MRSEC; and Michael H. Bartl, Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Utah MRSEC.

Discovery: Magnetic properties of cobalt films can be optimized through nanoscale structuring and thermal annealing.

Sep 10, 2014

An Implicit Solvent Ionic Strength (ISIS) Method to Model Polyelectrolyte Systems with Dissipative Particle Dynamics

Nan K. Li, William H. Fuss and Yaroslava G. Yingling; all of North Carolina State University

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a novel and versatile modeling strategy to simulate polyelectrolyte systems. The model has applications for creating new materials as well as for studying polyelectrolytes, including DNA and RNA.

Aug 26, 2014

Next Generation Materials for Plasmonics and Organic Spintronics (2011)

Manipulation of the Hanle curve contour for spin-transport structures in the presence of an ac drive

Robert C. Roundy, Utah MRSEC Graduate Research Associate; Megan C. Prestgard, Utah MRSEC Graduate Research Associate; Ashutosh Tiwari, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and M. E. Raikh, Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Utah.

Effect: We have demonstrated that the shape of the Hanle curve (non-local resistance versus applied magnetic field) can be manipulated using an ac drive.

Aug 15, 2014

Next Generation Materials for Plasmonics and Organic Spintronics (2011)

Undergraduates on the Frontier of Science at the University of Utah MRSEC

Aditi Risbud, Ph.D, Utah MRSEC Education and Outreach Director, Utah MRSEC, Lecturing Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Utah. Chelsey Short, MBA, Utah MRSEC Program Administrator.

Approach: Recruited nine highly-talented students (four female, two from underrepresented

Jul 24, 2014

CRISP: Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (2011)

Heterogeneously integrated ferroelectric optical modulator on silicon with high Pockels’ coefficient

H. Tang, F. Walker, C. Ahn (Yale University)

The collaboration among Hong Tang, Charles Ahn, and Fred Walker’s groups recently realized a new type of electro-optic modulator based on epitaxial ferroelectric BaTiO3 on silicon. A very high Pockels’ coefficient, up to 213 pm/V, was demonstrated, a record value that is more than six times larger than found in commercial optical modulators based on lithium niobate. The monolithically integrated BaTiO3 optical modulators show modulation bandwidth in the gigahertz regime, which is promising for broadband applications.