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Program Highlights

Hierarchical Coherent Phonons

The coupling of phonons to electrons, excitons and other phonons plays a defining role in material properties, including charge and energy transport, light emission, and superconductivity. In atomic solids such as Si or GaAs, phonons are delocalized over the three-dimensional (3D) lattice and are determined by bonding and crystal symmetry. In molecular materials, by contrast, localized molecular vibrations couple to electrons to produce, for example, high temperature superconductivity, as in A3C60.

2D Superconductivity

Two-dimensional materials offer a unique opportunity to explore superconductivity in the two-dimensional (2D) limit with low disorder.  IRG1 creates heterostructures of high-quality monolayers of superconductors encapsulated within insulating boron nitride, which provides protection from external disorder and oxidation.

Biomimetic design of 3D-printed cartilege

Cornell researchers employ advanced 3D printing technologies, along with bio-inspired design principles and multiscale predictive modeling to optimize the chemo-mechanical properties of bioprinted artificial cartilage.

Maximizing the spin Hall effect by tuning crystal structure

Cornell scientists have found that thin films of SrRuO3, when optimally produced, have an exceptionally high spin Hall ratio. This is directly correlated with the degree that octahedral RuO6 subunits in the crystal are tilted away from a flat in-plane orientation.

Teaching and Inspiring Students in Puerto Rico

Graduate student Omar Padilla Velez, an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, gathered a team of Cornell scientists working in fields from Chemistry to Physics, to bring science to students from middle to undergraduate schools in Puerto Rico.

Electrical control of magnetic properties in thin films by hydrogen gating

INTELLECTUAL MERIT  

IRG I: Diode Fibers for Fabric-based Optical Communications

INTELLECTUAL MERIT

Oriental Institute Mobile Museum Project

At the University of Chicago MRSEC, we pursued new outreach directions with campus museums including the Smart Museum of Art and the Oriental Institute.

Self-organizing motors divide active liquid droplets

At the University of Chicago MRSEC, we have constructed active liquid droplets comprised of the biopolymer actin, crosslinker and molecular motors myosin. The motors spontaneously divide the droplets in half.

Building strongly interacting photonic materials

A collaboration of the Simon and Schuster groups at the University of Chicago MRSEC  have realized a photonic strongly interacting Mott insulator using a 1D lattice of superconducting qubits.

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