http://phys.org/physics-news/materials/ en-us PhysOrg Team Phys.Org provides the latest news on Physics, Materials, Science and Technology (Phys.org) -- In the real world of so called “normal” materials, people expect certain things to occur as a result of certain actions. Covering an object with a cloak for example, should hide the object, but the cloak should still be visible (or vice-versa), or if you push or sit on a couch cushion, it should contract. Lately though, new science has been changing our perception of how materials should behave. For example, recent research into metamaterials; materials that aren’t normally found in nature, has been turning some of what we see as normal, on its head. The development of cloaking devices that hide objects and are themselves invisible, is one example. http://phys.org/news256972609.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-23T06:17:07-07:00 If you are not a condensed matter physicist, vanadium oxide (VO2) may be the coolest material you've never heard of. It's a metal. It's an insulator. It's a window coating and an optical switch. And thanks to a new study by physicists at Rice University, scientists have a new way to reversibly alter VO2's electronic properties by treating it with one of the simplest substances -- hydrogen. http://phys.org/news256818609.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-21T11:30:15-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Ferroelectricity, which was first observed in the 1940s, is an interesting phenomenon involving the spontaneous (non-induced) formation of charge polarization (separation of charge) in certain materials. This is analogous to the spontaneous formation of magnetic fields in iron and other elements via ferromagnetism. Multiferroics (materials exhibiting both ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism) have attracted increased interest of late due to their potential use in various technologies, such as improved electronic memory chips and highly sensitive magnetic field sensors. The crystalline material lutetium-iron-oxide (LuFe2O4) has, in turn, garnered much attention due to its purported multiferroic properties. http://phys.org/news256550862.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-18T10:00:02-07:00 (Phys.org) -- An international team of researchers has used SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) to discover never-before-seen behavior by electrons in complex materials with extraordinary properties. http://phys.org/news256457471.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-17T08:00:01-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Electrons within some materials can stick together like cars on a traffic jam. Swiss researchers studying promising materials for the future of electronics have been able to highlight this phenomenon http://phys.org/news256386007.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-16T11:20:22-07:00 (Phys.org) -- For the first time, scientists have seen an X-ray-irradiated mineral go to two different states of matter in about 40 femtoseconds (a femtosecond is one quadrillionth of a second). http://phys.org/news256380500.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-16T09:48:30-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have published their first archival paper based on data from the institute’s new hydrogen test facility. The paper examines the embrittling effect of pressurized hydrogen gas on three different types of pipeline steel, an important factor for the design of future hydrogen transportation and delivery systems. http://phys.org/news256378988.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-16T09:23:16-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Researchers have taken a step toward overcoming a key obstacle in commercializing "hyperbolic metamaterials," structures that could bring optical advances including ultrapowerful microscopes, computers and solar cells. http://phys.org/news256297839.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-15T10:50:51-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Strange new materials experimentally identified just a few years ago are now driving research in condensed-matter physics around the world. First theorized and then discovered by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and their colleagues in other institutions, these “strong 3-D topological insulators” – TIs for short – are seemingly mundane semiconductors with startling properties. For starters, picture a good insulator on the inside that’s a good conductor on its surface – something like a copper-coated bowling ball. http://phys.org/news256282333.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-15T06:32:25-07:00 Research from North Carolina State University will allow the development of energy-efficient LED devices that use ultraviolet (UV) light to kill pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. The technology has a wide array of applications ranging from drinking-water treatment to sterilizing surgical tools. http://phys.org/news256209288.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-14T10:14:54-07:00 Scientists discover that certain materials like silicon or gold exhibit a surprisingly large refractive index for extremely high energetic gamma-rays. http://phys.org/news256206413.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-14T09:27:21-07:00 A team of Duke University engineers has created a master "ingredient list" describing the properties of more than 2,000 compounds that might be combined to create the next generation of quantum electronics devices. http://phys.org/news256040770.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-13T13:00:01-07:00 Drawing on powerful computational tools and a state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscope, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison and Iowa State University materials science and engineering researchers has discovered a new nanometer-scale atomic structure in solid metallic materials known as metallic glasses. http://phys.org/news255968100.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-11T15:15:07-07:00 (Phys.org) -- A team of researchers from the Stony Brook University Department of Physics & Astronomy along with colleagues from the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) in Spain, explain a puzzling water anomaly in a paper published in the May 9 edition of Physical Review Letters entitled, “Anomalous Nuclear Quantum Effects in Ice.” The work details an anomaly – a deviation from the common form – of water ice that has been largely neglected and never before explained. http://phys.org/news255855007.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-10T08:00:02-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Shape-memory alloys (SMAs) are an engineer's dream, able to shape-shift spontaneously to accommodate changing operating conditions. A research team from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the University of Central Florida is studying the internal mechanisms of these real-life "Transformers" at the Spallation Neutron Source at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with an eye toward increasing their use in everyday scenarios. http://phys.org/news255754005.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-09T03:47:37-07:00 A research team lead by Professor Martin Wegener at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has succeeded in realizing a new material class through the manufacturing of a stable crystalline metafluid, a pentamode metamaterial. Using new nanostructuring methods, these materials can now be realized for the first time with any conceivable mechanical properties. The researchers will present their results in the cover story of the May issue of Applied Physics Letters. http://phys.org/news255695421.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-08T11:31:40-07:00 A team led by Johns Hopkins engineers has discovered some previously unknown properties of a common memory material, paving the way for development of new forms of memory drives, movie discs and computer systems that retain data more quickly, last longer and allow far more capacity than current data storage media. http://phys.org/news255279129.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-05-03T16:00:05-07:00 By employing powerful X-rays that can see down to the molecular level of organic materials used in printable electronics, researchers are now able to determine why some materials perform better than others. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Materials, could lead to cheaper, more efficient printable electronic devices. http://phys.org/news254583357.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-04-25T14:37:41-07:00 Scientists have for the first time visualised the transformation of powder mixtures into molten glass. A better understanding of this process will make it possible to produce high quality glass at lower temperatures, leading to significant energy savings in industrial glass manufacturing. The results are published in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society. http://phys.org/news253799768.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-04-16T12:56:59-07:00 (Phys.org) -- When chemists look at a drinking glass filled with water and a few ice cubes, it's not clear to them whether the glass is more like the water or the ice. http://phys.org/news253773852.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-04-16T05:44:50-07:00 Electron microscopy, conducted as part of the Shared Research Equipment (ShaRE) User Program at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has led to a new theory to explain intriguing properties in a material with potential applications in capacitors and actuators. http://phys.org/news253547162.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-04-13T14:47:11-07:00 (Phys.org) -- How hydrogen--the most abundant element in the cosmos--responds to extremes of pressure and temperature is one of the major challenges in modern physical science. Moreover, knowledge gleaned from experiments using hydrogen as a testing ground on the nature of chemical bonding can fundamentally expand our understanding of matter. New work from Carnegie scientists has enabled researchers to examine hydrogen under pressures never before possible. Their work is published online in Physical Review Letters. http://phys.org/news253516790.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-04-13T06:20:06-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Taking advantage of the force generated by magnetic repulsion, researchers have developed a new technique for measuring the adhesion strength between thin films of materials used in microelectronic devices, photovoltaic cells and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). http://phys.org/news253434176.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-04-12T07:23:15-07:00 (Phys.org) -- In a study that pushed quantum mechanical theory and research capabilities to the limit, University of Arizona researchers have found a way to see the molecule that likely made the universe - or at least the hot and fiery bits of it. http://phys.org/news253428961.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-04-12T05:56:39-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Some materials, by their nature, do what we want them to do -- notably, the ubiquitous, semiconducting silicon found in almost every electronic device. But sometimes, naturally occurring materials need a little nudge -- or in the case of recent Cornell research, a twist -- to make them useful. http://phys.org/news253427339.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-04-12T05:29:12-07:00 Gypsum is a naturally occurring mineral which is often used in industrial processes and which in nature, if left alone for thousands of years, can grow into huge translucent, towering and eerie, crystals more than 10 metres tall. These are famed for their beauty in places such as the Cave of Crystals in Mexico. Nevertheless, the formation of gypsum has until now been largely unexplored. http://phys.org/news252845501.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-04-05T14:00:05-07:00 A research group led by Professor Dr. Wilfried Nortershäuser has, for the first time, managed to measure the size of the charge distribution in the atomic nucleus of the highly exotic beryllium-12 isotope. The researchers were surprised to find that the so-called charge radius increases in comparison with that of the beryllium-11 isotope, while the radius of the matter distribution was significantly smaller. These findings contradict the famous shell-model in nuclear physics regarding the structure of atomic nuclei as it was expected that the nuclear charge radius would also be smaller. http://phys.org/news252833942.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-04-05T08:39:34-07:00 Collaboration between the University of Southampton and the University of Cambridge has made ground-breaking advances in our understanding of the changes that materials undergo when rapidly heated. http://phys.org/news252236899.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-03-29T10:48:33-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Just as water, ice, and steam are all phases of the same material that are influenced by temperature and pressure, new research shows how transitions of state work in very simple lattices primarily composed of copper. http://phys.org/news252145078.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-03-28T10:10:03-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Sandia National Laboratories is using its Ion Beam Laboratory (IBL) to study how to rapidly evaluate the tougher advanced materials needed to build the next generation of nuclear reactors and extend the lives of current reactors. http://phys.org/news251999398.html Physics - Condensed Matter 2012-03-26T16:50:10-07:00