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Program Highlights

Theoretical and computational modeling of spintronic THz emitters

Despite being a primary experimental probe of spin-charge coupled dynamics and transport, there have been virtually no calculations of THz radiation from such systems since the inception of this field in 1996. The MRSEC team at the University of Delaware this longstanding problem by introducing two new complementary frameworks, which combine time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) or time-dependent nonequilibrium Green’s functions (TDNEGF) with Jefimenko solutions of the Maxwell equations.

NSF Big Idea
Quantum Leap

Thermoresponsive Peptide Cross-Linkers for Injectable Hydrogels

Computationally designed tetrameric coiled coils, ranging from 8-29 amino acids, revealed a minimum of three heptads (21 amino acids) is necessary for stable coiled coil formation, establishing a minimum sequence for the creation of building blocks to construct nanostructured material.

NSF Big Idea
NSF 2026

Symmetry-guided inverse design of self-assembling multiscale DNA origami tilings

This study develops new design approaches for specifying the mutual interactions between many interacting subunit species such that they self-assemble into a user-specified two-dimensional tiling with high yield. By enumerating and assembling a wide variety of tilings with increasing unit-cell size and complexity, the authors identify economical design rules for targeting tilings with the largest unit-cell sizes using the minimum number of components.

NSF Big Idea
Understanding the Rules of Life

Solid-to-liquid transition in contractile active matter

The MRSEC team at Brandeis University explained the origin of the solidification observed in contractile mixtures of motors and microtubules.

NSF Big Idea
Understanding the Rules of Life

Mesoscopic Morphologies in Frustrated ABC Bottlebrush Block Terpolymers

The MRSEC team at the University of Minnesota investigated the self-assembly phase behaviors of frustrated bottlebrush block terpolymers PLA-PEP-PS synthesized via sequential ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of norbornene-functionalized poly(D,L-lactic acid) (PLA), poly(ethylene-alt-propylene) (PEP), and polystyrene (PS).

NSF Big Idea
Growing Convergence Research

Pushing the Limits of Topotactic Cycling Endurance in Oxide Electrochemical Transistors

Measurements of the cycling endurance of LSCO, showing record cycling endurance by an order of magnitude. The IRG-1 team at the University of Minnesota used operando FTIR spectroscopy for the first time, correlated with electrochemical measurements, to gain mechanistic insight into endurance and the roles of relative humidity, device design, and electrode metal selection.

NSF Big Idea
Growing Convergence Research

Chiral active solids with life-like properties

For the first time ever, the shape and mechanical response of millimeter-scale atomically thin polycrystalline films were probed in a mechanically free state using a counterintuitive solution: The MRSEC team at the University of Chicago float atomically thin films on water. Using this approach, they discovered that large scale membranes naturally wrinkle in a universal way, that is tunable, yet independent of atomistic details.

NSF Big Idea
Understanding the Rules of Life

Dense suspensions as trainable rheological metafluids

For biological organisms, training is well established as a means of achieving and maintaining targeted levels of performance. In similarly applying training to non-living materials key requirements are the ability of the material to adapt to external cues as well as to retain some memory once the cues are removed.  With additional memories more complex responses can then be trained-in.

NSF Big Idea
Understanding the Rules of Life

Quantum Sensing of Spin Dynamics Using Boron-Vacancy Centers in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

The OSU MRSEC team found that resonant fluctuating fields change relative population between spin states decreasing photoluminescence. 

NSF Big Idea
Quantum Leap

Discovery of a New Type of Magnetoresistance

MRSEC researchers at Ohio State University report the first experimental demonstration of an unconventional unidirectional magnetoresistance (UMR) in heterostructures consisting of a topological semimetal and ferromagnetic insulator, which allows them to electrically read the up and down states of the magnetic layer, which has perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), through longitudinal resistance measurements in bilayer heterostructures

NSF Big Idea
Quantum Leap

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