BES Science Highlights | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Scientists used a new method to create 3D metallic and semiconductor nanostructures. The scale bar represents one micrometer. The graphics show how the researchers combined multiple techniques to layer materials on top of a 3D DNA framework "scaffolding."

Building 3D Nanoscale Structures Through DNA-Assembly and Templating

Using DNA scaffolding, scientists developed a universal method for producing a wide variety of functional, 3D metallic and semiconductor nanostructures

A spin-LED stack consisting of a chiral semiconductor layer that controls the orientation of electron spins to emit circularly polarized light.

Gaining Control of Spin in Optoelectronics

By combining a chiral semiconductor with an LED, scientists controlled the orientation of electron spin.

A schematic illustration of the material stack.

Revealing Buried Layers: Exploring the Metal-Substrate Interface Layer in Superconducting Films

Researchers used a multimodal approach to determine the metal-substrate interface in a superconducting qubit material.

Image of a Wigner crystal captured by a high resolution ultra-low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The periodic sites (blue) form a triangular structure with each consisting of exactly one electron separated by 40 billionths of a meter.

Visualizing an Elusive Quantum Crystal

Discovery proves the existence of the mysterious Wigner crystal — an unusual kind of matter made entirely of electrons.

Left: Scanning tunnel microscopy image of an atomic layer of bismuth/bismuthene (green) on a tin-selenium substrate (black). The inset shows Weyl fermions’ electronic signature. Right: It shows that bismuthene has robust electrical currents at its edges.

Unusual Massless Particle Discovered in a 2D Material

Although scientists conceived of Weyl fermions in 3D, researchers have observed their 2D equivalent in a monolayer film.

Illustration showing a crystal structure, with balls connected by lines and a blue ball increasing in size moving above the structure

Thin Materials and Fat Electrons: A Recipe for New Quantum Phenomena

The 2D material cerium silicon iodide contains the same heavy electrons responsible for heavy fermion physics, something so far seen only in 3D materials.

Graphic showing how a thin film can go through compressive strain on top of a substrate to become superconducting as well as a line graph showing how the most strain induces superconductivity

Unveiling the Link Between High Pressure and Superconductivity

Researchers have learned how to retain superconductivity at ambient pressure in a new class of high temperature superconductors.

Applying a voltage to lanthanum strontium manganite (LSMO) can cause it to separate into distinct regions with dramatically different magnetic properties, as illustrated by the red and blue colors in the above figure.

Tuning Magnetism With Voltage Opens a New Path to Neuromorphic Circuits

Experiments show that applied voltage can dramatically alter the magnetic properties of quantum materials.

Conversion of CO2 to butene via a solar-driven tandem process. First, CO2 is converted to ethylene using an electrochemical reactor and solar-derived electricity. Next, ethylene is converted to butene via thermal catalysis with heat from solar irradiation.

Driving Chemical Transformations Through the Power of Solar Energy

Researchers combine solar energy, electrochemistry, and thermal catalysis to remove the need for fossil fuel-driven chemical conversions.

A metallic line atop a medium biased at the edge of chaos can provide effective negative resistance for time-varying signals, outputting a larger signal compared to its input. The energy for amplification comes from the static bias applied to the medium.

The “Edge of Chaos” Amplifies Signals Without Transistors

Emulating the edge of chaos of axons enables a metal wire to overcome its resistance without cooling, thereby amplifying signals flowing inside of it.