Highlights

Aug 26, 2014

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

University of Utah

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

Yale University

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.

Jun 30, 2014

Princeton University

Observation of a Dissipation-Induced Classical to Quantum Transition

J. Raftery, D. Sadri, S. Schmidt, H. E. Tureci, A. A. Houck

In this work, we study a novel dynamical phase transition of light, where photon-photon interactions and dissipation into the environment are key aspects of the physics. Together they give rise to a transition from a region of classical behavior into a regime where quantum effects dominate. The transition was observed in a Jaynes-Cummings dimer built from two coupled microwave cavities (shown in the upper picture. In this system, photons repel each other due to the presence of nearby superconducting

Jun 30, 2014

Princeton University

Landau Quantization and Quasiparticle Interference in the 3D Dirac Semimetal Cd3As2

Robert J. Cava and Ali Yazdani

Condensed matter systems provide a rich setting to realize Dirac and Majorana fermionic excitations and the possibility to manipulate them in materials for potential applications. Recently, it has been proposed that Weyl fermions, which are chiral, massless particles, can emerge in certain bulk materials or in topological insulator multilayers and can produce unusual transport properties, such as charge pumping driven by a chiral anomaly. A pair of Weyl fermions protected by crystalline symmetry, effectively forming a massless

Jun 24, 2014

Pennsylvania State University

Getting to Know the Science in your Pocket

Penn State MRSEC

Jun 24, 2014

Pennsylvania State University

Neal-Ideal Optical Metamaterial Absorbers with Super-Octave Bandwidth

J. A. Bossard, L. Lin, S. Yun, L. Liu, D. H. Werner and T. S. Mayer Department of Electrical Engineering and Center for Nanoscale Science, The Pennsylvania State University

Jun 23, 2014

Pennsylvania State University

Layered Ferroics as Superior Microwave Dielectrics

C-H Lee[1,2], N. D. Orloff[3,4], T. Birol[5], Y. Zhu[1], V. Goian[5], R. Haislmaier[2], E. Vlahos[2], J. A. Mundy[1], Y. Nie[1], M. D. Biegalski[6], J. Zhang[1], M. Bernhagen[7], N. A. Benedek[8], Y. Kim[1], J. D. Brock[1], R. Uecker[7], X. Xi[9], V. Gopalan[2], D. Nuzhnyy[5], S. Kamba[5], D. A. Muller[1], I. Takeuchi[4], J. C. Booth[3], C. J. Fennie[1] & D. G. Schlom[1] 1: Cornell, 2: Penn State, 3: NIST, 4: U Maryland, 5: Czech Republic, 6: Oak Ridge NL, 7: Cryst. Growth Inst., 8: U. T. Austin, 9:Temple U.

Jun 19, 2014

Pennsylvania State University

Enzyme Molecules as Nanomotors

Samudra Sengupta, Krishna K. Dey, H. S. Muddana, Tristan Tabouillot, Michael E. Ibele, Peter J. Butler, and Ayusman Sen (Penn State)

MRSEC researchers have recently discovered that enzymes - molecules that catalyze chemical reactions in cells - move during the reaction. Although this property is well known for motor proteins, it has not been previously known that movement is a general consequence of enzymatic reactions. This movement depends on the concentration of the enzyme's substrate (the fuel for its reaction) and causes individual enzyme molecules t

Jun 17, 2014

University of Colorado at Boulder

The Heliconical Nematic phase

LCMRC researchers have found an extraordinary nematic liquid crystal phase, a new entry in the most widely studied and widely applied class of liquid crystals. In the whole history of