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Active control over exciton (electron-hole pair) transport is a much sought-after goal to create reconfigurable excitonic and optoelectronic transistors. The PAQM team achieved the first example of predictive optical control over exciton transport in semiconductors.

Active materials are systems that are driven by nano scale components that consume energy and produce work. In this work, two new biochemically powered active materials were developed with unique properties that will allow for a systematic exploration of emergent non-equilibrium phenomenology.

The UCSB Materials Research Laboratory’s “Models and Materials” Teacher Institute teamed secondary art and science teachers to develop interdisciplinary curriculum projects combining art and science with student-created models. Five science and four art teachers from Santa Barbara and Ventura County schools participated in this teacher professional development opportunity and presented their lesson plans at the MRL Secondary Curriculum Workshop in March 2013.  

Metal Oxide nanocrystals that incorporate dopants (impurities) can display intense absorption bands known as localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) that can transduce light into heat. Using a series of time-resolved measurements with femtosecond resolution together with a theoretical heat transfer model, we have quantified timescales over which tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanocrystals heat their environment following light absorption.

At the University of Chicago MRSEC, we demonstrate that controlling the molecular crystal hosting the active qubit is a powerful means for enhancing coherence.

The planar dynamics of a semi-flexible filament anchored at one end and comprised of connected, self-propelled, spheres were predicted using Brownian dynamics simulations and continuum elastic theory theory. For certain parameter ranges the filament undergoes periodic motion. With a clamped anchor, the filament undergoes flagella-like beating (top right), while a pivoting end leads to a steadily rotating coiled conformation (bottom right).

Scientists design experiments to increase excitement K-12 science education

NYU-MRSEC investigators have worked alongside BioBus scientists to develop new K-12 materials science-related curricula since 2009. This collaboration brought exciting and educational engineering projects to over 1,000 NYC students in 2019-2020.

•The ability to design and assemble three-dimensional structures from colloidal particles, such as open structures for photonic band gap applications, is limited by the absence of specific directional bonds.

In a paper titled Persistence of Small Polarons in Doped Bismuthate Superconductors, researchers study Ba1−xKxBiO3, which becomes a high-Tc superconductor when doped into a charge-density-wave insulator. They show that short-range lattice distortions and strong electron-phonon coupling persist into the metallic phase. Using resonant inelastic x-ray and neutron scattering plus modeling, the team suggests BKBO’s metallic state is an unusual bipolaronic liquid with persistent polarons.