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Program Highlights

Internal Advisory Council: Promoting the Student Perspective

The CEM Student Internal Advisory Council advises CEM in the interests of students and postdocs and organizes technical and team-building events. 

Ultrafast Spin Polarized Electron Dynamics of Magnetic Insulator Yttrium Iron Garnet

Understanding the ultrafast dynamics of charge/spin transitions in magnetic insulators (MI) is crucial for developing new materials interfaces for spin-electronics and quantum information science applications. Supported by CEM, the groups of Yang and Baker reported a femtosecond extreme UV (XUV) spectroscopy of yttrium iron garnet (Y3Fe5O12, YIG), one of the important MI garnets for the NM/MI interfaces in this IRG.

Regional Abacus Bee Math Competition

Princeton co-hosted an inaugural NJ Regional Abacus Bee Math Competition in October 2023 that encourages blind and low vision students to practice their math skills.

Control of Solution Phase Behavior through Block−Random Copolymer Sequence

Princeton researchers alter a sequence of random copolymers and provide the first experimental observations of thermoreversible crew-cut micelles, and thermotropic micro- and macrophase separation in a nonaqueous polymer solution.

Novel 2D chemistry and superconducting quantum engineering

MRSEC researchers from Princeton University have discovered a surprising on-chip process for growing ultrathin superconductors on ultrathin layers of transitionmetal dichalcogenides (TMD).

Engineering exceptional transport in van der Waals superatomic semiconductors

The PIs of IRG2 have substantially refined synthetic control over the synthesis of superatoms and their assemblies into macroscopic single crystals. They are now leveraging this control to engineer new, exceptional semiconductor transport properties not seen in any other material.

Programming magnetic domains in ferrimagnetic MnSb2Te4

Mn(Bi, Sb)2Te4, a family of MTMs with highly tunable properties, is an ideal playground for studying the interplay of band topology with magnetism. While previous work has focused on uniform ordered phases, here we ask: How can we control the electronic properties of Mn(Bi, Sb)2Te4 using the mesoscale structure of magnetism?

Experimenta con PREM

Experimenta con PREM is a two-week hands-on research program for high school students run annually at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Humacao & Cayey campuses. It remains a core program for the UPR-Penn PREM program with a history of attracting talented and motivated high school students to materials research; since its inception in 2005, 100% of students have graduated from high school and 78% pursue STEM after.

Beetle Scales Inspire a Passive Daytime Radiative Cooling Coating

Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) coatings provide an eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative to cool surfaces and structures. Ideally, these coatings would have excellent cooling performance in thin, mechanically robust layers that could switch from rejecting heat to accepting heat during periods of low sunlight and would be produced by low-cost and scalable methods.

 

Architecting Crack Tips to Enhance Fracture Toughness

One of the primary ways that materials fail in operation is by the formation and propagation of cracks during loading, often leading to sudden, catastrophic events.

The ability of a material to withstand fracture is described as its toughness.  Over the years, researchers have developed a variety of way to enhance material toughness, thereby improving the ability of materials to withstand applied loads, but often at the cost of reducing overall strength.

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