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Highlights

May 15, 2023
UC San Diego MRSEC

Discovery of bilayer nanoparticle (NP) superlattices using global Monte Carlo optimization

Yilong Zhou, Gaurav Arya, Duke University

IRG1 has developed a computational framework for understanding how nanoparticles (NPs) assemble at the  interface  between  two  immiscible  fluids.
Top: Electron microscope image of released artificial cilia arrays. The image of a cilium cross-section showing the platinum (white) and titanium (black) is in the bottom-right inset.
Bottom: The cilia metasurface consists of a chip with 4 x 4 arrays of cilia units.
Top: Electron microscope image of released artificial cilia arrays. The image of a cilium cross-section showing the platinum (white) and titanium (black) is in the bottom-right inset. Bottom: The cilia metasurface consists of a chip with 4 x 4 arrays of cilia units.
May 14, 2023
Big Idea: Materials Under Extreme Conditions, Synthetic Materials Biology

Breakthrough in Artificial Cilia Materials Opens the Door to Programmable Microfluidic Manipulation

W. Wang, Q. Liu, I. Tanasijevic, M. F. Reynolds, M. Z. Miskin, M. C. Cao, D. A. Muller, A. C. Molnar, E. Lauga, P. L. McEuen, and I. Cohen (Cornell University) A. J. Cortese (OWiC, Inc.)

Many organisms use cilia to control fluids at the microscale. Engineering a cilia platform with comparable capabilities, however, has remained elusive. Now, Cornell researchers have taken a step towards such systems by creating electronically-actuated artificial cilia that can create arbitrary flow patterns in liquids near a surface. The team first created voltage-actuated cilia that can drive surface flows at tens of microns per second with only 1 volt applied.
(i) Oscillations of power between light waves in nearby waveguides can be removed by loss. (ii) The same principle can be used to eliminate oscillations of photon population in a three-wave mixing (TWM) process (a  b,c). However, rather than using loss, a second-harmonic generation (SHG) process can coherently move photons to a fourth wave (c  d). (iii) This process can be used to achieve under- or over-damped behavior, corresponding to unbroken or broken parity-time-symmetric phase.
(i) Oscillations of power between light waves in nearby waveguides can be removed by loss. (ii) The same principle can be used to eliminate oscillations of photon population in a three-wave mixing (TWM) process (a  b,c). However, rather than using loss, a second-harmonic generation (SHG) process can coherently move photons to a fourth wave (c  d). (iii) This process can be used to achieve under- or over-damped behavior, corresponding to unbroken or broken parity-time-symmetric phase.
May 14, 2023
Big Idea: Quantum Leap

Lossless Removal of Unwanted Waves from Photonic Devices

N. Flemens and J. Moses, Cornell University

Normally, unwanted oscillations are removed from a dynamical system through the introduction of energy loss. In materials used for moving photons between light waves of different frequencies – a key process, e.g., for transfer of information between nodes of a quantum network – unwanted oscillations between photon populations can limit device efficiency and cause instability and noise.
May 11, 2023
Center for Emergent Materials

An efficient material search for room-temperature topological magnons

Lu (OSU Physics), Goldberger (OSU Chemistry), Doan-Nguyen(OSU MSE)

IRG-2 developed a symmetry-based approach that uses only few inputs, to carry out an efficient yet systematic search for topological magnons in magnetic insulators. Robust against disorders and decoherence, they serve as potential platforms for magnon-based spintronic devices.
May 11, 2023
Center for Emergent Materials

Strengthening Networks: Connecting MRSEC and PREM Students with Academic and Industry Representatives

Richard (OSU), Pak  (UCSB), Nawwar (OSU), Endsley (UCSB), Tak (UCSB)

The Ohio State University and University of California, Santa Barbara MRSECS  partnered  to  host  the  Conference  Across  MRSECs  and PREMs (CAMPS) in October 2022.
May 11, 2023
Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials (2017)

Hydrogel Crosslinking Regulated using Genetic Logic

B.K. Keitz, A.M. Rosales: UT Austin

Living polymer networks, including tissues andbiofilms, actively respond to complex combinations ofenvironmental inputs, leading to differentiation,regeneration, and development.
May 11, 2023
Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials (2017)

Confined Monolayer Ag as a Large Gap 2D Semiconductor

Shih, MacDonald, Li (UT MRSEC); Crespi, Robinson (Penn State MRSEC)

By mapping momentum-resolved electronic states using time-resolved and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, researchers recently revealed that monolayer Ag confined between bilayer graphene and SiC is a large gap (>1 eV) 2D semiconductor, consistent with ab initio GW calculations.