A paper by Kazan Federal University saw light in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. The authors, Kirill Vasin and Mikhail Eremin, contribute to the theory of electronic and structural properties of FeCr2O4 ferrimagnet. Due to the specific quantum state and the symmetry of FeO4 fragment, it has unusual electric and magnetic properties. Below TOO~150K, it lowers the symmetry with the macroscopic deformations due to the cooperative Jahn-Teller effect. The coupling between macroscopic deformation of the crystal FeCr2O4 and its inner…
Developing new ultrathin metal electrodes has allowed researchers to create semitransparent perovskite solar cells that are highly efficient and can be coupled with traditional silicon cells to greatly boost the performance of both devices, said an international team of scientists. The research represents a step toward developing completely transparent solar cells. “Transparent solar cells could someday find a place on windows in homes and office buildings, generating electricity from sunlight that would otherwise be wasted,” said Kai Wang, assistant research…
In the deep waters that underlie the productive zones of the ocean, there is a constant rain of organic material called ‘marine snow’. Marine snow does not only look like real snow but also behaves similarly: Large flakes are rare and fall quickly while highly abundant smaller flakes take their time. Scientists from Bremen and Kiel have now discovered that precisely those features explain why small particles play an important role for the nutrient balance of the oceans. These findings…
Dresden researchers discover that a mechanical cue is at the origin of cell death decision. In many species including humans, the cells responsible for reproduction, the germ cells, are often highly interconnected and share their cytoplasm. In the hermaphrodite nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, up to 500 germ cells are connected to each other in the gonad, the tissue that produces eggs and sperm. These cells are arranged around a central cytoplasmic “corridor” and exchange cytoplasmic material fostering cell growth, and ultimately…
Anyone who thinks of research laboratories only in terms of protective suits and clean rooms is not quite right: Since April, patterns, seams and mannequins have not been uncommon in the new Textile Prototyping Lab (TPL) at Fraunhofer IZM in Berlin. With the TPL, there is now a place where creative high-tech textiles are produced and which already distinguishes itself from the style of usual research laboratories by its design. As a collaborative project with the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, textile-integrated…
… new model explains 3D quantum material. Scientists from the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat – Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter have developed a new understanding of how electrons behave in strong magnetic fields. Their results explain measurements of electric currents in three-dimensional materials that signal a quantum Hall effect – a phenomenon thus far only associated with two-dimensional metals. This new 3D effect can be the foundation for topological quantum phenomena, which are believed to be particularly robust and…
New study suggests old rules on how ice breaks may not always hold up. Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have found strong evidence that warm ice – that is, ice very close in temperature to zero degrees Celsius – may fracture differently than the kinds of ice typically studied in laboratories or nature. A new study published in The Cryosphere takes a closer look at the phenomenon, studied at the world’s largest indoor ice tank on Aalto’s campus. Understanding…
Using the circular vibration of surface acoustic waves, a collaborative research group have successfully controlled the magnetization of a ferromagnetic thin film. Their research was published in the journal Nature Communications on May 10, 2021. Essentially, acoustic waves are waves of atomic vibrations in a substance. When the waves propagate across the surface of a material, the vibration becomes circular. This circular motion, known as angular momentum, can help measure rotational motion. Surface acoustic waves are utilized in bandpass filters…
AMOLF scientists unravel noise-assisted signal amplification in systems with memory. Signals can be amplified by an optimum amount of noise, but this so-called stochastic resonance is a rather fragile phenomenon. Researchers at AMOLF were the first to investigate the role of memory for this phenomenon in an oil-filled optical microcavity. The effects of slow non-linearity (i.e. memory) on stochastic resonance were never considered before, but these experiments suggest that stochastic resonance becomes robust to variations in the signal frequency when…
Comprehensive electronic-structure methods review featured in Nature Materials. Over the past 20 years, first-principles simulations have become powerful, widely used tools in many, diverse fields of science and engineering. From nanotechnology to planetary science, from metallurgy to quantum materials, they have accelerated the identification, characterization, and optimization of materials enormously. They have led to astonishing predictions–from ultrafast thermal transport to electron-phonon mediated superconductivity in hydrides to the emergence of flat bands in twisted-bilayer graphene– that have gone on to inspire…
Columbia Engineering researchers use AI to teach robots to make appropriate reactive human facial expressions, an ability that could build trust between humans and their robotic co-workers and care-givers. While our facial expressions play a huge role in building trust, most robots still sport the blank and static visage of a professional poker player. With the increasing use of robots in locations where robots and humans need to work closely together, from nursing homes to warehouses and factories, the need…
Nobody likes driving in a blizzard, including autonomous vehicles. To make self-driving cars safer on snowy roads, engineers look at the problem from the car’s point of view. A major challenge for fully autonomous vehicles is navigating bad weather. Snow especially confounds crucial sensor data that helps a vehicle gauge depth, find obstacles and keep on the correct side of the yellow line, assuming it is visible. Averaging more than 200 inches of snow every winter, Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula is…
Researchers from Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) and the Universities of Cambridge and Surrey succeeded to track down the first step in ice formation at a surface, revealing that additional energy is needed for water before ice can start to form. Water freezes and turns to ice when brought in contact with a cold surface – a well-known fact. However, the exact process and its microscopic details remained elusive up to know. Anton Tamtögl from the Institute of Experimental…
Scientists at IST Austria discover how the HIV-related Rous sarcoma virus is assembled driving virus research forward. Understanding every step in the life cycle of a virus is crucial for identifying potential targets for treatment. Now, scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria were able to show how a virus from the retrovirus family – the same family as HIV – protects its genetic information and becomes infectious. Furthermore, they show an unexpected flexibility of the virus….
Metasurface holograms (meta-holograms) are ultra-thin artificial surfaces designed to shape incident light and project it to extremely wide angles. Meta-holograms have opened up numerous possibilities such as light multiplexing, information processing, 3D display, high-density data storage, and optical encoding. Despite of these remarkable advances, the road to practical applications of meta-holograms is hindered by artifacts that originate from strong interactions between the building blocks of the meta-holographic surface and inevitable fabrication defects, ultimately causing distortion and degradation to the holographic…
The immune system’s attempt to eliminate Salmonella bacteria from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract instead facilitates colonization of the intestinal tract and fecal shedding, according to National Institutes of Health scientists. The study, published in Cell Host & Microbe, was conducted by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) scientists at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria (hereafter Salmonella) live in the gut and often cause gastroenteritis in people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates…
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