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Formation of liquid crystals consisting of several layers that are the thickness of a hair strand. Functional particles created by phase separation between hydrophilic and hydrophobic liquids. A research team in Korea has developed a material that may potentially replace color-shifting ink in preven...

ITMO University scientists have conducted several experiments to investigate polymeric quasicrystals that ultimately confirmed their initial theory. In the future, the use of quasicrystals may open up new possibilities for laser and sensor design. This paper was published in Advanced Optical Materia...

Periodic pattern consisting of magnons is formed at room temperature. A team of researchers has succeeded in creating a micrometer-sized space-time crystal consisting of magnons at room temperature. With the help of an ultra-precise X-ray microscope, they were able to capture the recurring periodic ...

Discovery of new material could someday aid in nuclear nonproliferation. A newly discovered quasicrystal that was created by the first nuclear explosion at Trinity Site, N.M., on July 16, 1945, could someday help scientists better understand illicit nuclear explosions and curb nuclear proliferation....

The study marks a major step toward creating a system for studying quantum phase transitions. In 1934, physicist Eugene Wigner made a theoretical prediction based on quantum mechanics that for 87 years went unseen. The theory suggested how a metal that normally conducts electricity could turn into a...

Researchers at ETH Zurich have succeeded in observing a crystal that consists only of electrons. Such Wigner crystals were already predicted almost ninety years ago but could only now be observed directly in a semiconductor material. Crystals have fascinated people through the ages. Who hasn’t admir...

Scientists prove Turing patterns, usually studied in living organisms and chemical systems, also manifest at the nanoscale in monoatomic bismuth layers. One of the things the human brain naturally excels at is recognizing all sorts of patterns, such as stripes on zebras, shells of turtles, and even ...

Chemical elements make up pretty much everything in the physical world. As of 2016, we know of 118 elements, all of which can be found categorized in the famous periodic table that hangs in every chemistry lab and classroom. Each element in the periodic table appears as a one-, two-letter abbreviati...

This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Fridge Magnet An exotic form of magnetism has been discovered and linked to an equally exotic type of electrons, according to scientists who analyzed a new crystal in which they appear at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The magnetism is created an...

Scientists discovered ghost polaritons in calcite, revealing a new class of long-range, highly confined surface waves. An international team has reported in Nature the first observation of ghost polaritons, which are a new form of surface waves carrying nanoscale light strongly coupled with material...

Self-healing phenomenon could reduce defects that rendered quasicrystals impractical. A class of materials that once looked as if it might revolutionize everything from solar cells to frying pans—but fell out of favor in the early 2000s—could be poised for commercial resurrection, findings from a Un...

MIT researchers develop a new way to control and measure energy levels in a diamond crystal; could improve qubits in quantum computers. Physicists and engineers have long been interested in creating new forms of matter, those not typically found in nature. Such materials might find use someday in, f...

Tokyo Tech scientists created van der Waals crystals that upconvert sunlight efficiently, overcoming decades of problems with solid-state materials. Solid-solution organic crystals have been brought into the quest for superior photon upconversion materials, which transform presently wasted long-wave...

ESA and TalTech are studying iron pyrite microcrystals as scalable solar cells, potentially harvestable from the Moon’s surface to power future bases. This crystal of iron pyrite, just four hundredths of a millimeter in size, could function as the light absorbing layer of a tiny solar cell – potenti...

New observations of rapidly spinning ultracold atoms record a key crossover from classical to quantum behavior. The world we experience is governed by classical physics. How we move, where we are, and how fast we’re going are all determined by the classical assumption that we can only exist in one p...

Scientists develop plant-based ‘hairy nanocrystals’ to remove excess chemotherapy drugs from the blood. Hairy cellulose nanocrystals developed by a team from Penn State and the Terasaki Institute can capture excess chemotherapy drugs from blood, allowing for safer, higher doses in cancer...

Advanced algorithms plus an exceptional X-ray laser can reveal the structures of not-so-neat-and-tidy materials unattainable by other techniques. The development of smSFX, an advanced form of X-ray crystallography, enables precise structural analysis of complex materials at atomic levels. This techn...

Researchers from the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases and TU Graz have developed a novel metal-organic framework (MOFs) antibody-drug delivery system that could revolutionize treatments for cancer, cardiovascular, and autoimmune diseases. The MOF antibody crystals deliver drugs directly to targe...

Thermal span in a layered compound promises applications in next-generation electrical switches and nonvolatile memory. When temperature changes, many materials undergo a phase transition, such as liquid water to ice, or a metal to a superconductor. Sometimes, a so-called hysteresis loop accompanies...

Time crystals that persist indefinitely at room temperature could have applications in precision timekeeping. We have all seen crystals, whether a simple grain of salt or sugar, or an elaborate and beautiful amethyst. These crystals are made of atoms or molecules repeating in a symmetrical three-dim...

Breakthrough at UChicago could pave the way for applications in robotics, computing using soft materials. Researchers with the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering have shown for the first time how to design the basic elements needed for logic operations using a kind of mat...

A research group led by Prof. WU Kaifeng from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) revealed the mechanism for molecular spin-triplets formation from rapid spin-flip in colloidal nanocrystals and demonstrated its photochemical applications. The stud...

Scientists shave ‘hairs’ off nanocrystals to improve their electronic properties. Breakthrough by UChicago chemists could yield future devices such as next-gen displays and solar cells. You can carry an entire computer in your pocket today because the technological building blocks have been getting ...

The new method of synthesizing crystals leads researchers to a brand new phase of metal, which may be useful for new technologies. Results were confirmed using the Advanced Photon Source. A research team led by Northwestern University and the University of Michigan has developed a new method for ass...

Scientists created interacting time crystals, revealing new quantum physics possibilities. Time crystals were long believed to be impossible because their perpetual motion would seem to defy the laws of physics. However, using quantum physics scientists have not only created time crystals, but they ...

Researchers observed a time crystal breaking continuous time symmetry, using a Bose-Einstein condensate. The system demonstrated periodic oscillations, confirming spontaneous symmetry breaking and the stability of the dynamic phase. Scientists have succeeded for the first time in realizing a time cr...

Their swirling, clustering behavior may someday inform the design of self-assembling robotic swarms. A starfish embryo, in its earliest stages, before it sprouts its distinctive tentacles, looks like a small bead and spins in the water like a miniature ball bearing Now, MIT researchers have discover...

Single-shot spectroscopy techniques provide scientists with a new understanding of a mysterious light-driven process. Harold “Doc” Edgerton, the late MIT professor, developed high-speed strobe-flash photography in the 1960s that allowed us to visualize events too fast for the eye — a droplet hitting...