A team of researchers working at Berkeley Lab has discovered the strongest topological conductor yet, in the form of thin crystal samples that have a spiral-staircase structure. The team’s result is reported in the March 20 edition of the journal Nature.
Scientists Take a Deep Dive Into the Imperfect World of 2D Materials
A team led by scientists at Berkeley Lab has learned how natural nanoscale defects can enhance the properties of tungsten disulfide, a 2D material.
Topological Matters: Toward a New Kind of Transistor
An experiment conducted at Berkeley Lab has demonstrated, for the first time, electronic switching in an exotic, ultrathin material that can carry a charge with nearly zero loss at room temperature. Researchers demonstrated this switching when subjecting the material to a low-current electric field.
Scientists Discover ‘Chiral Phonons’ – Atomic Rotations in a 2-D Semiconductor Crystal
A research team has found the first evidence that a shaking motion in the structure of an atomically thin material possesses a naturally occurring circular rotation that could become the building block for a new form of information technology and molecular-scale machines.
New Discovery Could Improve Organic Solar Cell Performance
Scientists who are members of a new energy materials-related science center based at Berkeley Lab have solved a mystery that could lead to gains in efficiency for organic solar cells.
A New Spin on Quantum Computing: Scientists Train Electrons with Microwaves
In what may provide a potential path to processing information in a quantum computer, researchers have switched an intrinsic property of electrons from an excited state to a relaxed state on demand using a device that served as a microwave “tuning fork.”
Simplifying Solar Cells with a New Mix of Materials
Scientists have simplified the steps to create highly efficient silicon solar cells by applying a new mix of materials to a standard design. The special blend of materials eliminates the need for a process known as doping that steers the device’s properties by introducing foreign atoms. Doping can also degrade performance.
2D Islands in Graphene Hold Promise for Future Device Fabrication
Berkeley Lab researchers have discovered a new mechanism for assembling two-dimensional molecular “islands” that could be used to modify graphene at the nanometer scale for use in electronic devices.
Exciting Breakthrough in 2D Lasers
An important step towards next-generation ultra-compact photonic and optoelectronic devices has been taken with the realization of a two-dimensional excitonic laser. Berkeley Lab researchers have embedded a monolayer of tungsten disulfide into a microdisk resonator to achieve bright excitonic lasing at visible light wavelengths.
Is Black Phosphorous the Next Big Thing in Materials?
Berkeley Lab researchers have confirmed that single-crystal black phosphorous nanoribbons display a strong in-plane anisotropy in thermal conductivity, an experimental revelation that should facilitate the future application of this highly promising material to electronic, optoelectronic and thermoelectric devices.