Highlights

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

University of Utah

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

University of Utah

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