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Highlights

May 30, 2007
University of Maryland - College Park

Molecular Nano-Ring Beats Like a Chime

Chenggang Tao, T. Stasevich, W.G. Cullen, T.L. Einstein and E.D. Williams

Perfect rings of C60 molecules, lined up around circular layers of silver, reveal an important property of nanoelectronic contacts: thermal energy causes the structures to fluctuate. The movement of the molecules in the rings is captured by making repeated ("time-lapse") STM images.
May 30, 2007
University of Maryland - College Park

Novel multiferroic thin film memory devices

Electric-field tunable spin valves are being investigated Exchange bias at ferromagnet/multiferroic interfaces has been studied for various thin film and bulk multiferroics including BiFeO3, TbMnO3, LuMnO3, and Cr2O3. Tunable spin valve structures are being explored. Magnetoresistance devices using BiFeO3 as the exchange biasing layer have been demonstrated.
May 30, 2007
University of Maryland - College Park

Discovery of a Pb-free morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) in a high Tc piezoelectric perovskite

Piezoeletric materials are used for a variety of actuator and sensor applications. Finding a Pb-free replacement for the popular Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 has been a major challenge for the community.
May 18, 2007

Magnetic Tubules: Cellular Tracks Follow the Field

Motor proteins deliver intracellular cargo to specific locations inside cells. These so-called kinesin motors take 8 nm steps along intracellular highways 25 nm wide called microtubules. This transport machinery can be reassembled outside the cell and used to transport nanoscale cargo for separations, sensors, assembly, and other bio-mechanical devices.
May 18, 2007

Nano Rotor: Molecular Spin and Slide

Scaling functional machines down to the molecular scale is a key challenge in nanoscale science and technology. However, coaxing individual molecules into performing well-defined mechanical tasks requires radically different strategies than those used to build familiar macroscopic machines like electrical motors.
May 18, 2007

Microinsertion: Placement, Isolation and Patterning

Normally, well, flaws are bad. But through a newly developed technique of microcontact insertion printing, Penn State researchers can use the flaws in a selfassembled monolayer to place individual isolated molecules in predetermined patterns on a gold substrate. A self-assembled monolayer is a tightly packed wellordered array of molecules covering a surface, all tilted to one side like a cornfield in a windstorm.
May 16, 2007
Northwestern University

High-performance Transparent Inorganic-organic Hybrid Thin-film n-type Transistors

Thin-film transistors, already indispensable in a number of portable electronics, would benefit from optical transparency and compatibility with flexible, lightweight plastics. Transistors with these qualities would be a major advance if they could be fabricated by a scalable, large-area process.
May 16, 2007
Northwestern University

Structural and Morphological Control of Multifunctional Oxide Nanostructures at Multi-dimensions

Oxide ceramics are ubiquitous in modern society- ranging from capacitors in electronic gadgets to high-tech displays. In numerous future technologies, it is necessary to "pattern" ceramic oxides in various forms, e.g., dots and lines, at the nanometer scale.
May 7, 2007
University of California, Santa Barbara

Bringing Technology to the Classroom

The recent MRSEC Teacher Workshop at UCSB was a Great Success. Junior High and High School math and science teachers from Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles Counties visited the UCSB Materials Research Laboratory for a day of curriculum presentations and workshops.
May 7, 2007
University of California, Santa Barbara

Solid State Lighting: Energy Savings and New Architecture

To a packed audience of over 200 students and local residents, the UCSB MRL supported a public lecture on the subject of solid state lighting, emphasizing the promise of a much cleaner, more efficient, and longer-lasting lighting source. Santa Barbara architect