Highlights

Simulations of a model for microtubule(MT)-based active nematics capture experimentally observed defect dynamics. The image on the right shows three sequential images from experimental system in which +½ and -½ defects are created through a bending stability and subsequently separate. The image on the left shows similar defect behaviors observed in dynamical simulations of a coarse grain model for the MTbased active nematics.

While conventional materials are assembled from inanimate building blocks, we are exploring the behavior of soft materials in which the constituent components consume energy and spontaneously coordinate their microscopic behavior and form novel materials such as active gels, crawling emulsion droplets, and living liquid crystals.

Electrons in epitaxial graphene nanoribbons travel unimpeded at high speed for large distances, so that they are ideally suited for graphene electronics. a)         b) 

Graduate students at Ohio State's Center for Emergent Materials (Andrew Berger, Michael Page, Shane White) developed a demo illustrating how a computer hard drive works. This demo has been used at several outreach events and in school efforts through the Scientific Thinkers program and is currently under discussion with the Museum of Science in Boston for duplication there.

LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 are two well known non‐magnetic insulators, but when LaAlO3 is deposited on SrTiO3 to form a clean LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, the interface becomes an ultra‐thin sheet of conductor. Even more surprisingly, the interface exhibits unusual magnetic properties, but the origin of the observed interfacial magnetism is under debate.

JEOL JEM-2800

Discovery: We have observed a large inverse spin-Hall effect (ISHE) in ZnO films grown using Pulsed Laser Deposition. This discovery provides an entirely new means of measuring spin currents in semiconductors. Approach: Developed a novel device concept for the injection and detection of spin-polarized carriers.

Epitaxial graphene may transform the computing and communications industry.  

In collaboration with the Research Triangle MRSEC, a team from NC State University was awarded a grant from the NSF-MRI program for the purchase of an extreme-resolution scanning

Guided by hierarchical materials design principles evolved by bacteria, which include the use of curvature-induced strain to dynamically position amphiphiles, proteins and other biomolecules within single cells, IRG3 of the Wisconsin MRSEC has recently recapitulated these design principles in synthetic LC systems. In one set of approaches, the IRG has explored the complex interplay of curvature strain, surface anchoring and topological defects within LC droplets to achieve the synthesis of