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The chemical versatility of organic semiconductors promises to be of great use to electronics and spintronics. As an example, it is now demonstrated that the spin polarization of extracted carriers from an organic semiconductor device can be controlled by the insertion of a thin layer of polar material. This approach opens up ideas for future spintronic device concepts.
Skyrmions are vortex-like arrangements of spin magnetic moments, which so far have been observed in only a few compounds, and only at low temperatures. The discovery that skyrmions can be stabilized by thin magnetic films close to room temperature promises their use in spintronic devices.
Blood platelets aggregate to form clots that prevent haemorrhage. Knowledge of single-platelet mechanics is scarce, however. Atomic force microscopy experiments now show that platelets contract rapidly on contact with fibrinogen, and adhere strongly to multiple fibrin polymers, enhancing the elasticity of clots. These findings are relevant to disorders of platelet function, such as thrombosis.
The only way diamond can be polished is by pressing it against small diamond crystals, but this works well only for certain crystallographic orientations. The details of this wear mechanism have now been uncovered in simulations that suggest wear occurs via a thin amorphous layer on the diamond surface.
Scott Chambers has worked on epitaxial oxide films for the past eighteen years. Nature Materials asked him about his view on high-temperature ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic oxides.
The latest advances in our understanding of correlated electron systems have implications that range from fundamental physics such as string theory to novel applications including the manipulation and retrieval of electron spin.
The mechanisms of biomineralization remain hotly debated. Now high-resolution microscopy yields unsurpassed insight into mechanisms relevant both to the biomineralization of bone and teeth and to pathological mineralization.
The first realization of an acoustic diode that passes sound in one direction but not the other signals a new approach to acoustic devices with complex functionality.
Nitin Samarth has extensive experience in studying the properties of (Ga,Mn)As. He told Nature Materials about the role that this compound has had in exploring the magnetic properties of semiconductors and, more generally, of spin-related phenomena.
Despite low transition temperatures, ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductors has been essential in exploring new ideas and concepts in spintronics, some of which have been successfully transferred to metallic ferromagnets.
In 2000, a seminal study predicted ferromagnetism above room temperature in diluted magnetic semiconductors and oxides, fuelling tremendous research activity that has lasted for a decade. Tomasz Dietl reviews the progress in understanding these materials over the past ten years, with a view to the future of semiconductor spintronics.
The atomic configuration of metallic glasses is a long-standing issue important to the understanding of their properties. Nanobeam electron diffraction experiments now enable a direct determination of the local atomic order in a metallic glass.
Although crumpled sheets have large resistance to compression, little is known about the dynamical evolution of their three-dimensional spatial configurations. The formation of a network of ridges and vertices into which the energy is localized is now observed during dynamic crumpling under isotropic confinement.
The surface-directed mineralization of calcium phosphate from simulated body fluid is studied by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy. Prenucleation clusters aggregate close to the surface, then amorphous calcium phosphate forms in this region, leading to the nucleation of oriented apatite crystals at the surface.
Magnons are collective excitations of spins in a material, and just like individual electron spins, they could form the basis for novel computing concepts. Now, determination of the almost loss-less electrical switching of magnons at room temperature takes us a step closer to such ‘magnonic’ devices.
Strain-induced damage typically limits the bending radius of electronic circuits to a few millimetres. The development of very thin organic transistors and electronic circuit designs that show a bending radius down to 100 μm will enable novel applications with unconventional form factors.
