For the past century, students of chemistry, materials science, and physics have been taught to model solid-state materials by considering their chemical composition, the number and location of their electrons, and lastly, the role of more complicated interactions. However, an international team of scientists has recently discovered that an additional ingredient must also be equally […]
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are layered compounds which can be thinned down to the single-layer limit. While mechanical exfoliation generates atomically thin TMD flakes possessing an area of a few square microns, chemical and physical methods provide high-quality monolayers on large-area substrates, which are suitable for actual technological applications. TMDs are a class of van […]
Imagine a conductor or a semiconductor through which a current is flowing. Then we apply a strong transverse magnetic field. As a result, we can measure a potential difference at right angles to both the current and the field caused by the deflection of charge carriers by the field. This effect was described by Edwin […]
A quasicrystal is a solid structure in which there is long-range incommensurate translational order and a long-range orientational order with a point group. Translated, this simply means that a quasicrystal is ordered but not periodic and, still, it can fill space completely. In two dimensions, the fivefold symmetry of a pentagon is an example of […]
Some metals, alloys and transition-element salts exhibit a form of magnetism called antiferromagnetism. This occurs below a certain temperature, named after Louis Néel, when an ordered array of atomic magnetic moments spontaneously forms in which alternate moments have opposite directions. There is therefore no net resultant magnetic moment in the absence of an applied field […]
Twistology could be the study of unexpected changes or developments in stories or situations, from coups d’état to the fatherhood of Darth Vader. In condensed matter physics there is something similar, although the preferred name is twistronics (from twist and electronics). It is understood as the study of how the angle (the twist) between layers […]
A cement is any of various substances used for bonding or setting to a hard material. A popular one, Portland cement, is a mixture of calcium silicates and aluminates made by heating limestone (CaCO3) with clay (that contains aluminosilicates) in a kiln. The product is then ground to a fine powder. When Portland cement is […]
Any person with some basic knowledge of chemistry is familiar with the concept of electrolysis, i.e., the production of a chemical reaction by passing an electric current through an electrolyte – a liquid that conducts electricity as a result of the presence of ions. It has found major applications since the early days of modern […]
Some materials have special universal properties protected against perturbations. Such properties are theoretically described by topology, a branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of geometrical objects that are unchanged by continuous deformations. So-called topological insulators are electronic materials that have a bulk band gap like an ordinary insulator but have conducting states on their […]
Topological materials have special universal properties, which are protected against perturbations. The name comes from the fact that such properties are theoretically described by topology, a branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of geometrical objects that are unchanged by continuous deformations. Topological materials behave like an ordinary insulator in the bulk but have conducting […]