Crystal phenomena as a research area investigates the physical behaviors and properties that arise from the ordered atomic or molecular arrangements in crystalline solids, including symmetry-governed effects and defect-related responses. It encompasses studies of phase transitions, lattice dynamics, crystallographic defects (dislocations, vacancies, interfaces), anisotropic mechanical, thermal, and electronic behavior, as well as optical and dielectric responses governed by crystal symmetry and band structure. The field integrates experimental techniques such as X-ray and neutron diffraction, electron microscopy, and spectroscopies with theoretical and computational methods to elucidate structure–property relationships, enabling the design and control of functional materials in electronics, photonics, mechanics, and quantum technologies.
X-ray diffraction has been used for more than a hundred years to understand the structure of crystals or proteins—for instance, in 1952 the well-known double helix structure of the DNA that carries genetic information was ...
Nanophysics
Mar 3, 2023
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The structure of two-dimensional titanium oxide breaks up at high temperatures when one adds barium; instead of regular hexagons, rings of four, seven and ten atoms are created that order aperiodically.
Nanophysics
Jan 26, 2023
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A crystal's shape is determined by its inherent chemistry, a characteristic that ultimately determines its final form from the most basic of details. But sometimes the lack of symmetry in a crystal makes the surface energies ...
Nanophysics
Nov 28, 2022
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First insights into engineering crystal growth by atomically precise metal nanoclusters have been achieved in a study performed by researchers in Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Finland. The work was published in Nature Chemistry.
Nanophysics
Nov 11, 2022
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Northwestern University researchers have uncovered a previously unknown property of colloidal crystals, highly ordered three-dimensional arrays of nanoparticles.
Nanomaterials
Oct 17, 2022
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Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are a class of materials with physical properties that make them ideally suited for use in flexible optoelectronic applications, such as light detectors, light-emitting diodes and ...
Nanophysics
Oct 5, 2022
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A research team led by the GRASP—Group of Research and Applications in Statistical Physics—at the University of Liège (Belgium), demonstrates how to manipulate the mesh, shape and symmetry of floating crystals by wandering, ...
Nanophysics
Sep 30, 2022
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Scientists from the Department of Materials Science at the University of Tsukuba developed a new method to produce micrometer-scale single crystals in the form of hollow vessels. By drop-casting an ethanol solution onto a ...
Nanophysics
Aug 26, 2022
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Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have discovered the mechanism behind the rapid growth of ultra-thin nanowires or "whiskers" in organic compounds. Nanowires are both a desirable technological innovation and a ...
Nanophysics
Jun 27, 2022
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Nanosheets are finely structured two-dimensional materials and have great potential for innovation. They are fixed on top of each other in layered crystals, and must first be separated from each other so that they can be ...
Nanomaterials
May 31, 2022
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