https://phys.org/nanotech-news/nano-physics/ en-us The latest science news on nanophysics, nanotechnology, nanotech and nanoscience. Researchers at The University of Manchester and the Australian National University have developed a new class of molecular magnets that combines the most successful features of previous designs, resulting in some of the strongest magnetic memory properties reported to date. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-molecular-magnet-boosts-ultrahigh-density.html Nanophysics Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:40:09 EDT news708088321 Polar wurtzite nitride semiconductors, such as aluminum nitride (AlN) and gallium nitride (GaN), are central to modern high-power and high-frequency electronic devices because of their wide band gaps, high breakdown electric fields, and strong spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nitride-semiconductor-material-options-powerful.html Nanophysics Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:00:06 EDT news708006341 One big dream of ultrafast science has been to watch changes in nanoparticles or biomolecules on their natural timescale. Experimentally, this can be realized by taking two snapshots of the same object only femtoseconds apart. However, no detector is fast enough to record the two snapshots separately—they end up on top of each other in a single image. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ray-pulses-capture-nanoparticle-moments.html Nanophysics Mon, 07 Sep 2026 11:00:07 EDT news707992670 Augmented reality (AR) glasses, lenses thinner than a human hair, and holograms floating above your fingertips may sound like technologies from science fiction. At the heart of these emerging technologies, however, lies a nanoscale optical device known as a "metasurface." https://phys.org/news/2026-09-hidden-disorder-nanodevices-easier.html Nanophysics Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:20:04 EDT news707739061 With the rapid spread of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and data centers, global energy consumption is rising to new heights. A promising way to reduce this burden is to develop memory devices that store information magnetically yet are written using electric fields. Magnetic memories are nonvolatile, meaning stored information is retained without a power supply. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nanoscale-multiferroic-materials-path-efficient.html Nanophysics Thu, 03 Sep 2026 17:40:01 EDT news707661062 A team of Korean researchers has become the first in the world to identify the origin of the "beating" signal that has long been a major obstacle to interpreting quantum signals in topological insulator (TI) nanowires. Their analysis confirmed that the beating arises when two different quantum oscillations overlap: one created by topological electronic states on the surface and the other by ordinary electronic states inside the nanowire. This achievement provides a key criterion for interpreting the signals of topological quantum devices and realizing desired electronic states. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-years-mystery-quantum-material.html Nanophysics Thu, 03 Sep 2026 11:20:09 EDT news707648881 Researchers from Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) have developed an innovative method for coupling light non-linearly. This opens up new possibilities for telecommunications and quantum technology. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nanostructure-linear-conversion-efficient.html Nanophysics Wed, 02 Sep 2026 13:40:08 EDT news707568302 A collaborative research team has successfully visualized in real space the ultrafast optical modulation of hyperbolic phonon polaritons (HPhPs) in a van der Waals heterostructure composed of hBN and WS2. The research is published in the journal Nano Letters, and was led by Kazuki Kamada of the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS) and Osaka Metropolitan University, along with Dr. Jun Nishida, assistant professor at IMS, and Takashi Kumagai, associate professor at IMS. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-femtosecond-nano-imaging-reveals-ultrafast.html Nanophysics Mon, 31 Aug 2026 18:00:07 EDT news707405941 Researchers use tightly focused laser beams to image biological samples, shape materials with microscopic precision and generate displays. But using those beams in three dimensions requires more than sweeping light from side to side, as the light must also rapidly refocus at different depths. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-mirror-3d-microscopes-smaller.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 31 Aug 2026 12:20:02 EDT news707393521 A new way to imprint complex surfaces on low-cost, sustainable polymers could be used in a wide range of industries, including water-repellent coatings, optical devices and data storage disks. The complex nano- and microscale patterns on sulfur-derived polymers, unveiled this week in the ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces journal, build on a wide range of green chemistry solutions led by Flinders University. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-power-lasers-durable-nano-patterns.html Nanophysics Mon, 31 Aug 2026 12:00:04 EDT news707393341 Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have shown that making extremely small changes to the structure of a material can dramatically improve its ability to respond to electrical signals. Published recently in Science Advances, the breakthrough could help create a new generation of wireless devices that can change frequency on demand, making communication systems more flexible and energy efficient. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-atomic-smarter-wireless-technology.html Nanophysics Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:00:12 EDT news706896901 Researchers from Skoltech and their colleagues from Harbin Institute of Technology in China and ITMO University in Russia have devised a way to deposit elaborate geometric patterns of carbon nanotubes without wasting material. Such patterns are used in advanced optical devices and mechanical strain sensors for structural integrity monitoring. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-reusable-stencils-carbon-nanotube-patterns.html Nanophysics Tue, 25 Aug 2026 23:20:01 EDT news706880285 You may have once tried taking a close-up picture of a computer screen and noticed a wavy, rippling effect. This optical effect occurs whenever two fine, repeating grids overlap and slightly misalign, such as when the pixel grid of your camera's sensor overlaps with the pixel grid of the screen. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-degree-nanoscale-grid-energy-room.html Nanophysics Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:00:03 EDT news706792741 Quantum dots are semiconductor crystals only a few nanometers in size. Their ability to produce bright, precisely tunable colors has made them promising materials for light-emitting diodes, displays, solar cells and other optoelectronic technologies. Yet heat remains a major obstacle to their practical use. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-dots-dual-modification.html Nanophysics Fri, 21 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news706524781 AR and VR glasses once seen only in science fiction may soon be realized not as bulky stacks of lenses but as a single eyeglass-like optical element. That future is now closer to reality. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-thinner-lenses-brighter-metalens-hurdles.html Nanophysics Thu, 20 Aug 2026 19:20:02 EDT news706451041 Self-assembling, anthracene-based supramolecular nanofibers can enable excitons to migrate hundreds of nanometers, according to a new experimental finding by researchers at Science Tokyo. Coupling these nanofibers with a plasmonic gold nanohole substrate further doubles exciton diffusivity. By mitigating the limited diffusivity of singlet excitons in organic semiconductors, this approach offers a new strategy for improving optoelectronic technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-supramolecular-nanofibers-paired-nanohole-substrate.html Nanophysics Wed, 19 Aug 2026 19:40:01 EDT news706378622 Bubbles are round, and we know surface tension does that. But squeeze that gas-liquid boundary into a space only a few tens of nanometers wide—could other forces be at work? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-nanoscale-evidence-electric-fields.html Nanophysics Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:00:10 EDT news706272301 Understanding how ions diffuse in solid materials is essential for technologies including batteries, electronics and chemical catalysts, but it has been hard for a simple reason: the materials are solids. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tracer-exchange-reveals-ions-battery.html Nanophysics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:40:03 EDT news705850816 An international research team including Alexander Korsunsky from the Skoltech Engineering Center has, for the first time, directly measured mechanical stresses at the contact between a diamond indenter and a complex nanostructured coating at a resolution of less than 80 nanometers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-multilayer-nanocoatings-dissipate-energy-nanoscale.html Nanophysics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:20:03 EDT news705848755 From smartphones to data centers, modern electronics rely on billions of tiny switches that consume electricity every time they turn on or off. As global demand for computing continues to grow, so does the energy required to power it. Scientists are therefore searching for alternatives that can perform the same tasks while using far less energy. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-magnetic-path-power.html Nanophysics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:00:04 EDT news705831481 Rice University researchers have shown that tiny wrinkles in graphene can change the material's electrical properties, providing evidence for flexoelectricity, a phenomenon in which a material generates an electric charge when it bends unevenly. The findings are published in Advanced Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-graphene-nanowrinkles-reshape-electricity-future.html Nanophysics Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:10:01 EDT news705773341 What if scientists could get a taste of discovery as soon as their experiment finishes? Thanks to a new machine learning tool called DONUT, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are transforming how experiments are run at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science user facility. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-real-ray-analysis-donut-materials.html Nanophysics Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:20:01 EDT news705682545 Recent technological advances have enabled the development of increasingly sophisticated, sharper displays for electronic devices. Many modern displays use light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, tiny semiconductor-based components that emit light when an electrical current passes through them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-technique-quantum-dots-tiny-pixels.html Nanophysics Sun, 09 Aug 2026 15:20:01 EDT news705314764 Researchers created an electrically tunable quantum nanoscale corral that traps charged excitons and enables precise electrical control of tiny light sources, including their brightness, color and quantum states, the team, led by Boston College physicists, reports today in Nature Nanotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-electrostatic-nanocorral-excitons-quantum.html Nanophysics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:40:03 EDT news705160321 Researchers at the University of Bayreuth, together with colleagues from Freie Universität Berlin and the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, have developed a synthetic fiber system inspired by the cellular cytoskeleton that protects itself through controlled bundling. The findings open up new avenues for smart, switchable materials whose properties can be deliberately altered in response to a specific stimulus. The research is published in the journal Advanced Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cell-synthetic-fibers-reveal-reversible.html Nanophysics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705148801 Researchers at the 4th Physics Institute of the University of Stuttgart and the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Milan have demonstrated a new mechanism for directing light in a naturally hyperbolic van der Waals material without conventional nanofabricated waveguides. The discovery opens new possibilities for integrated photonics, on-chip optical communication and future quantum technologies. The paper is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nano-optics-mechanism-channeling-natural.html Nanophysics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:40:03 EDT news705065941 Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have demonstrated a new quantum-dot mechanism that could significantly expand the reach of light-driven chemistry. By introducing magnetic manganese dopants into semiconductor quantum dots, the team created an ultrafast spin-exchange pathway that captures hot-electron energy before it is lost as heat and uses it to drive chemical reduction. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-magnetic-dopants-quantum-dots-chemical.html Nanophysics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 09:40:03 EDT news705054241 Researchers at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering have developed a new approach to nanoscale 3D printing that improves both speed and fidelity, overcoming a challenge that has limited the technology's broader use in manufacturing. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-pixel-patterns-harness-diffraction-faster.html Nanophysics Mon, 03 Aug 2026 16:20:02 EDT news704985845 Researchers in the lab of Sam Peng, the Pfizer Inc.–Gerald Laubach Career Development Assistant Professor of Chemistry at MIT and a core institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, have developed a super-resolution imaging technology. It allows scientists to visualize molecular structures with angstrom-level localization precision—three orders of magnitude beyond the nanometer-scale limits of standard fluorescent dyes—while simplifying the imaging process. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-microscopy-method-angstrom-scale-localization.html Nanophysics Sun, 02 Aug 2026 14:00:05 EDT news704556380 What if glowing molecules could synchronize, much like fireflies flashing in unison? Researchers have discovered that molecules confined within tiny gold nanostructures can behave collectively, coordinating their interactions even under conditions where this was previously thought impossible. The finding challenges long standing assumptions about how optical coherence forms and opens new possibilities for highly sensitive sensors, molecular photonics, and future quantum technologies capable of operating at room temperature. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-molecules-cooperate-room-temperature.html Nanophysics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:10:02 EDT news704649001