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Category: materials – Page 2

Minimal 3D model reveals fundamental mechanisms behind toughening of soft–hard composites

Engineers have long grappled with a fundamental challenge: creating materials that are both strong and tough enough to resist deformation and prevent fractures. These two properties typically exist in opposition, as materials that excel in one area often fail in the other.

Nature, however, has elegantly solved this trade-off in like bone, teeth, and nacre, which strategically combine soft and hard components in multi-layered architectures. These blueprints have inspired scientists to develop artificial soft–hard composites—from advanced dual-phase steels to specialized gels and reinforced rubbers—that demonstrate performance exceeding that of their individual components.

While artificial soft–hard composites have shown impressive performance in and , the fundamental mechanisms behind their enhanced properties remain largely unclear. The inherent complexity of these materials, encompassing nonlinear behaviors, intricate internal structures, and multi-scale interactions, has made it difficult to isolate the essential design principles.

Physicists observe an elusive form of the Hall effect for the first time

A giant anomalous Hall effect (AHE) has been observed in a nonmagnetic material for the first time, as reported by researchers from Japan. This surprising result was achieved using high-quality Cd3As2 thin films, a Dirac semimetal, under an in-plane magnetic field. By modulating the material’s band structure, the team isolated the AHE and traced its origin to orbital magnetization rather than spin, challenging long-held assumptions in condensed matter physics.

In 1879, American physicist Edwin Hall discovered that a voltage develops across a conductor when it carries an in a , caused by the sideways deflection of moving charges. This phenomenon, which later became known as the Hall effect, quickly became a hot topic in the field and led to notable advances in the theoretical, experimental, and practical realms alike. Soon after the initial discovery of the Hall effect, scientists noticed that exhibited a similar phenomenon—this was coined the anomalous Hall effect (AHE).

Much more puzzling than the ordinary Hall effect, the AHE has stirred up debate among physicists for decades regarding the true nature of its origin. Some theoretical predictions have even hinted that AHE may be possible even in nonmagnetic materials. However, experimental confirmation of these predictions had never been achieved—until now.

Sneaky swirls: ‘Hidden’ vortices could influence how soil and snow move

Researchers have shown for the first time how hidden motions could control how granular materials such as soil and snow slip and slide, confirming a long-suspected hypothesis. The knowledge could help in understanding how landslides and avalanches work and even help the construction industry in the future.

Plasma group publishes new framework to advance fusion energy research

Scientists pursuing magnetically-confined nuclear fusion as a clean energy source grapple with the “core-edge challenge,” the need to integrate the core of the reactor, where plasma must be 10 times hotter than the sun, with the reactor’s edge. The edge must sustain a lower temperature to avoid melting of the material containing the plasma and extracting its energy to produce power.

New method enables self-assembly of robust and soft porous crystals with unique gas sorption properties

The development of highly complex chemical systems, self-assembled by the donor-acceptor and/or noncovalent interactions, lies at the core of supramolecular chemistry.

Recently, increasing attention has been paid to structurally adaptable molecular systems and robust noncovalent microporous materials (NPMs), also known as molecular porous materials (MPMs) or porous molecular crystals (PMCs), based on the of discrete molecules driven by . The utilization of molecular metal clusters as building units of NPMs is a promising strategy, combining the versatile functionality of organic and inorganic subunits with the softness and flexibility of molecular solids controlled by noncovalent interactions.

However, the development of robust porous functional frameworks based on self-assembly driven by noncovalent forces is still highly challenging.

Digital to analog in one smooth step: Device could replace signal modulators in fiber-optic networks

Addressing a major roadblock in next-generation photonic computing and signal processing systems, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created a device that can bridge digital electronic signals and analog light signals in one fluid step.

Built on chips made out of lithium niobate, the workhorse material of optoelectronics, the new device offers a potential replacement for the ubiquitous but energy-intensive digital-to-analog conversion and electro-optic modulation systems used all over today’s high-speed data networks.

“Optical communication and high-performance computing, including large language models, relies on conversion of massive amounts of data between the electrical domain—used for storage and computation—and the optical domain used for ,” said senior author Marko Lončar, the Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering at SEAS.

RIKEN launches international initiative with Fujitsu and NVIDIA for “FugakuNEXT” development

Quasicrystals (QCs) are fascinating solid materials that exhibit an intriguing atomic arrangement. Unlike regular crystals, in which atomic arrangements have an ordered repeating pattern, QCs display long-range atomic order that is not periodic. Due to this ‘quasiperiodic’ nature, QCs have unconventional symmetries that are absent in conventional crystals. Since their Nobel Prize-winning discovery, condensed matter physics researchers have dedicated immense attention towards QCs, attempting to both realize their unique quasiperiodic magnetic order and their possible applications in spintronics and magnetic refrigeration.

Although theoreticians have long expected the establishment of antiferromagnetism in select QCs, it has yet to be directly observed. Experimentally, most magnetic iQCs exhibit spin-glass-like freezing behavior, with no sign of long-range magnetic order, leading researchers to question whether antiferromagnetism is even compatible with quasiperiodicity — until now.

In a groundbreaking study, a research team has finally discovered antiferromagnetism in a real QC. The team was led by Ryuji Tamura from the Department of Materials Science and Technology at Tokyo University of Science (TUS), along with Takaki Abe, also from TUS, Taku J. Sato from Tohoku University, and Max Avdeev from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and The University of Sydney. Their study was published in the journal Nature Physics on April 11, 2025.

Quasicrystals are intriguing materials with long-range atomic order that lack periodicity. It has been a longstanding question whether antiferromagnetism, while commonly found in regular crystals, is even possible in quasicrystals. In a new study, researchers have finally answered this question, providing the first definitive neutron diffraction evidence of antiferromagnetism in a real icosahedral quasicrystal. This discovery opens a new research area of quasiperiodic antiferromagnets, with potential applications in spintronics.

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