http://phys.org/physics-news/materials/ en-us Phys.org Phys.Org provides the latest news on Physics, Materials, Science and Technology Meeting the demand for more data storage in smaller volumes means using materials made up of ever-smaller magnets, or nanomagnets. One promising material for a potential new generation of recording media is an alloy of iron and platinum with an ordered crystal structure. Researchers led by Professor Kai Liu and graduate student Dustin Gilbert at the University of California, Davis, have now found a convenient way to make these alloys and tailor their properties. http://phys.org/news288284396.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-05-20T16:00:36-07:00 Materials belonging to the family of dilute magnetic oxides (DMOs)—an oxide-based variant of the dilute magnetic semiconductors—are good candidates for spintronics applications. This is the object of study for Davide Sangalli of the Microelectronics and Microsystems Institute (IMM) at the National Research Council (CNR), in Agrate Brianza, Italy, and colleagues. They recently explored the effect of iron (Fe) doping on thin films of a material called zirconia (ZrO2 oxide). For the first time, the authors bridged the gap between the theoretical predictions and the experimental measurements of this material, in a paper about to be published in EPJ B. http://phys.org/news288008030.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-05-17T11:30:02-07:00 An international collaboration of scientists has discovered a unique crystalizing behavior at the interface between two immiscible liquids that could aid in sustainable energy development. http://phys.org/news287996944.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-05-17T08:09:23-07:00 University of Toronto engineering researchers, working with colleagues from Carnegie Mellon University, have published new insights into how materials transfer heat, which could lead eventually to smaller, more powerful electronic devices. http://phys.org/news287920772.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-05-16T10:59:48-07:00 Quick-cooling molten atoms give metal alloys a glassy, or random, atomic structure that generates higher elasticity and better wear- and corrosion-resistance than their crystalline alloy counterparts. However, these 'metallic glasses' also suffer from brittleness that makes them shatter. Findings from Yong Wei Zhang of the A*STAR Institute of High Performance Computing in Singapore and co-workers may now make it easier to use metallic glass in practical engineering applications. They have discovered that a fundamental relationship between material plasticity and atomic 'islands', known as 'shear transition zones' (STZs), enables precise measurement and prediction of fracturing in these materials. http://phys.org/news287215827.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-05-08T07:30:05-07:00 (Phys.org) —A team of researchers from Aix-Marseille University in France has found that the number of cracks that appear in a pane of glass or other brittle material resulting from a projectile strike is related to the speed of the striking object. The team describes test trials, observations and results in their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters. http://phys.org/news286704725.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-05-02T09:16:15-07:00 (Phys.org) —Reach for a tall glass of iced tea. Don't drink. Look at the glass instead. The glass is an amorphous solid, consisting of molecules jumbled in disarray. It's the complete opposite of the ice in your drink. Ice is a crystalline solid made up of water molecules arranged in a repeat pattern. http://phys.org/news286617671.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-05-01T09:01:17-07:00 (Phys.org) —Shattering a glass is a completely different experience than breaking a seashell, and Cornell physicists offer a notion – at the microscale – to explain why. http://phys.org/news286617399.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-05-01T08:56:44-07:00 (Phys.org) —Italian materials scientist Nicola Pugno has realized amazing gains in adding toughness to fibers by twisting them into slip knots resulting in materials that can take far more abuse before breaking than those currently in use. In his paper he's uploaded to the preprint server arXiv, Pugno details how and why adding slip knots to fibers can make them much tougher. http://phys.org/news286615292.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-05-01T08:21:58-07:00 (Phys.org) —Using computer models, a graduate student at the University of Arkansas has collaborated with scientists in the United States and Europe to observe a new magnetic state of bismuth ferrite. http://phys.org/news286608717.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-05-01T06:32:11-07:00 Being a physicist offers many perks. For one, it allows an understanding of the substances ubiquitous in everyday industrial products such as emulsions, gels, granular pastes or foams. These are known for their intermediate behaviour between fluid and solid. Paint, for example, can be picked up on a paintbrush without flowing and spread under the stress of the brush stroke like a fluid. Baudouin Geraud and colleagues from the Light Matter Institute at the University of Lyon, France, have studied the flow of a microgel confined in microchannels. They have shown, in a study just published in the European Physical Journal E, that its behaviour under confinement differs from predictions based on standard theories. Indeed, its molecules are not only subjected to local forces, but also to neighbouring forces that affect its flow. http://phys.org/news286531702.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-30T09:16:45-07:00 (Phys.org) —Squeeze a piece of silicone and it quickly returns to its original shape, as squishy as ever. But scientists at Rice University have discovered that the liquid crystal phase of silicone becomes 90 percent stiffer when silicone is gently and repeatedly compressed. Their research could lead to new strategies for self-healing materials or biocompatible materials that mimic human tissues. http://phys.org/news286479688.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-29T18:41:35-07:00 With the help of a solitary sea squirt, scientists have resolved the longstanding puzzle of the crystal structure of vaterite, an enigmatic geologic mineral and biomineral. http://phys.org/news286116748.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-25T14:00:09-07:00 (Phys.org) —While everyone is familiar with water in the liquid, ice, and gas phases, water can also exist in many other phases over a vast range of temperature and pressure conditions. One lesser known phase of water is the superionic phase, which is considered an "ice" but exists somewhere between a solid and a liquid: while the oxygen atoms occupy fixed lattice positions as in a solid, the hydrogen atoms migrate through the lattice as in a fluid. Until now, scientists have thought that there was only one phase of superionic ice, but scientists in a new study have discovered a second phase that is more stable than the original. The new phase of superionic ice could make up a large component of the interiors of giant icy planets such as Uranus and Neptune. http://phys.org/news286086930.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-25T09:00:04-07:00 Researchers at Aalto University have developed a purely geometric surface structure that is able to stop and control the spreading of liquids on different types of surfaces. The structure has an undercut edge that works for all types of liquids, irrespective of their surface tension. http://phys.org/news286005505.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-24T07:10:01-07:00 (Phys.org) —Researchers from North Carolina State University have solved a long-standing materials science problem, making it possible to create new semiconductor devices using zinc oxide (ZnO) – including efficient ultraviolet (UV) lasers and LED devices for use in sensors and drinking water treatment, as well as new ferromagnetic devices. http://phys.org/news285933975.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-23T11:06:23-07:00 (Phys.org) —In 2010, the discoverers of graphene—a revolutionary material made of a carbon "monolayer" just one atom thick—snagged the Nobel Prize in physics. An extremely efficient conductor of heat and electricity, graphene could be manufactured with nothing more extraordinary than scotch tape and a pencil. But because it was such a great conductor of electricity, the one-atom-thick material couldn't be used for semiconductors: It lacked a "band gap" that could be used to control the flow of electrons. http://phys.org/news285834681.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-22T07:31:29-07:00 Like spreading a thin layer of butter on toast, Cornell scientists have helped develop a novel process of spreading extremely thin organic transistors, and used synchrotron X-rays to watch how the films crystallize. http://phys.org/news285489418.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-18T07:37:08-07:00 Applying femtosecond X-ray methods, researchers at the Max-Born-Institute in Berlin (Germany) and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Switzerland) observed an extremely fast, collective electron transfer of ~100 molecular ions after excitation of a single electron in a crystal of transition metal complexes. http://phys.org/news285408964.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-17T09:16:13-07:00 Whether gas trapped under a frozen water layer flows through cracks or bursts out depends on the layer's depth and temperature, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The water isn't crystalline ice; it is amorphous solid water, which is disordered and often described as a "frozen" liquid. The team proved that in some cases, gases trapped under amorphous water films are released via fissures that form during crystallization. For thicker trapped gas layers, the gas can escape abruptly before crystallization. This work graced a cover of The Journal of Chemical Physics. http://phys.org/news285229426.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-15T07:40:05-07:00 A University of Houston chemical and biomolecular engineering professor's theories on crystal formation will be tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS). http://phys.org/news284915753.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-11T16:15:58-07:00 Not all liquids are mixable. Researchers from the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics of Kiel University (CAU) have investigated chemical processes with atomic resolution at the interface between two such liquids and have made an exciting discovery. During an experiment carried out at Germany's largest accelerator centre DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron) in Hamburg, they observed the formation of an ordered crystal of exactly five atomic layers between the two liquids, which acts as a foundation for growing even bigger crystals. The experiment was performed in cooperation with scientists from Israel, the USA, and DESY. The results have just been published in the renowned scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. They may result in new semiconductor and nano-particle production processes. http://phys.org/news284885362.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-11T07:49:32-07:00 (Phys.org) —Topological insulators (TIs) are an exciting new type of material that on their surface carry electric current, but within their bulk, act as insulators. Since the discovery of TIs about a decade ago, their unique characteristics (which point to potential applications in quantum computing) have been explored theoretically, and in the last five years, experimentally. http://phys.org/news284833756.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-10T17:29:56-07:00 The craft of glassmaking extends way back in time. It was over five-thousand years ago when mankind learned how to make glass. Even prior to this discovery, humans had been using naturally occurring glass for tool making. Despite this long and rich history and widespread use of glass, surprisingly little is known about the interplay between the mechanical properties of glasses and their inner structures. For the first time, researchers from Amsterdam University (The Netherlands) and DESY have now monitored subtle structural changes in a glass made from microscopic silica spheres, which they exposed to shear stress. Using a unique experimental setup at DESY's PETRA III X-ray source, the scientists discovered coexisting structural states in the glass and related them to its flow behavior. The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports. http://phys.org/news284817266.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-10T12:54:43-07:00 Organic semi-conductors could revolutionise electronics in various areas. Nowadays, components put out such high performances that they are used in small devices like mobile phones. With larger devices, however, the organic components heat up in such an uncontrollable manner that they break down or conduct electricity in an irregular way. Physicists of the TU Dresden (Dresden University of Technology) and mathematicians of the WIAS have collaborated to analyse the typical feedback effects and they describe them for organic semi-conductors in the Physical Review Letters. http://phys.org/news284624975.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-08T07:40:01-07:00 Gelatin sets by forming a solid matrix full of random, liquid-filled pores—much like a saturated sponge. It turns out that a similar process also happens in some metallic glasses, substances whose molecular behavior has now been clarified by new MIT research detailing the "setting" of these metal alloys. http://phys.org/news284198237.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-04-03T08:57:32-07:00 Many users of microwave ovens have had the frightening experience of leaving a fork, crumpled piece of aluminum foil or some other pointy metal item inside the cooking chamber. The sharp metal object acts as an antenna for the oven's microwave radiation, causing strong local heating or sparking. Jing Hua Teng from the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and colleagues in Singapore and the UK have now observed a similar antenna effect, involving a different sort of electromagnetic radiation—known as terahertz (THz) radiation—in a microfabricated semiconductor structure. Their discovery could find application in areas ranging from biosensing to airport security scanners. http://phys.org/news283588230.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-03-27T07:50:03-07:00 Scientists at the Department of Physics of the University of Oulu have teamed up with scientists in France, Russia and Japan to propose a new experimental method for researching positively charged ions. The study, In the Finnish side carried out by postdoctoral researcher Saana-Maija Huttula and Professor Marko Huttula in Oulu, was published in Physical Review Letters on 12 March 2013. The study involved investigating the electronic structure of the argon ions using synchrotron radiation. The proposed theoretical simulations were done using methods developed by an electron spectroscopy research group based at the University of Oulu. The study was co-financed by the Academy of Finland. http://phys.org/news283425106.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-03-25T10:11:53-07:00 (Phys.org) —Materials scientists have been for some time preparing artificial ceramic systems that simply do not exist in nature, allowing scientists to engineer particularly interesting and even technologically applicable behaviors. But sometimes nature itself finds ingenious solutions to physical problems that we have not been able to solve. http://phys.org/news282471945.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-03-14T10:00:02-07:00 Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for creating stronger, lightweight magnesium alloys that have potential structural applications in the automobile and aerospace industries. http://phys.org/news282383250.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2013-03-13T08:47:36-07:00