Engineering a unique metamaterial of gold nanoantennas, Berkeley Lab researchers were able to obtain the strongest signal yet of the photonic spin Hall effect, an optical phenomenon of quantum mechanics that could play a prominent role in the future of computing.

Electrons flowing swiftly across the surface of topological insulators (TIs) are “spin polarized,” their spin and momentum locked. This new way to control electron distribution in spintronic devices makes TIs a hot topic in materials science. Now Berkeley Lab scientists have discovered more surprises: contrary to assumptions, the spin polarization of photoemitted electrons from a topological insulator is wholly determined in three dimensions by the polarization of the incident light beam.

In bulk, topological insulators (TIs) are good insulators, but on their surface they act as metals, with a twist: the spin and direction of electrons moving across the surface of a TI are locked together. TIs offer unique opportunities to control electric currents and magnetism, and new research by a team of scientists from China [...]

Space-age ceramics at their best promise advanced jet and gas turbine engines that burn with greater fuel efficiencies and less pollution. Berkeley Lab scientists have developed the first mechanical test rig for obtaining real-time X-ray computed microtomography images at ultrahigh temperatures for improving the composition and architecture of advanced ceramic composites.

Using a new technique called HARPES, for Hard x-ray Angle-Resolved PhotoEmission Spectroscopy, Berkeley Lab researchers have unlocked the ferromagnetic secrets of dilute magnetic semiconductors, materials of great interest for spintronic technology.

New findings from a team of Berkeley Lab and Japanese scientists suggest that the road to magnetic vortex RAM might be more difficult to navigate than previously supposed, but there might be unexpected rewards as well. A study at the Advanced Light Source revealed that contrary to suppositions, the formation of magnetic vortices in ferromagnetic nanodisks is an asymmetric phenomenon.

Using ultrafast lasers, Berkeley Lab scientists have tackled the long-standing mystery of how Cooper pairs form in high-temperature superconductors. With pump and probe pulses spaced just trillionths of a second apart, the researchers used photoemission spectroscopy to map rapid changes in electronic states across the superconducting transition, revealing relationships of energy and momentum never seen before in these promising, but stubborn, complex materials.

Berkeley Lab theorists and experimenters have led in the exploration of the unique properties of topological insulators, where electrons may flow on the surface without resistance and with their spin orientations and directions intimately related. Recent research at beamline 12.0.1 of the Advanced Light Source opens the way to exciting prospects for practical new spintronic devices that exploit control of electron spin as well as charge.

The network of national laboratories run by the Department of Energy (DOE) has spawned countless scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs in the last 80 years. Now with the global economic climate more competitive than ever and the need for energy solutions more urgent, the labs are looking to develop closer ties with industry in an effort to speed up the pace at which discoveries reach the marketplace. To kick off the conversation Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is hosting the Materials for Energy Applications workshop from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 in Berkeley.

Berkeley Lab researchers may have opened the door to a simpler approach for the fabrication of plasmonic materials – one of the hottest new fields in high tech – by inducing polyhedral-shaped silver nanocrystals to self-assemble into three-dimensional millimeter-sized supercrystals of the highest possible density.