New technique enables magnetic patterns to be mapped in 3D

08-Jul-2015 - An international collaboration has succeeded in using synchrotron light to detect and record the complex 3D magnetisation in wound magnetic layers. This technique could be important in the development of devices that are highly sensitive to magnetic fields, such as in medical diagnostics for ...

Emergence of a “devil’s staircase” in a spin-valve system

03-Jul-2015 - A Japanese-German team observes at BESSY II how spins form unusual magnetic structures in a complex cobalt oxide single crystal. Such a material offers new perspectives for spintronic applications. Complex magnetic structures are at the heart of promising new materials for devices in ...

Towards graphene biosensors

30-Jun-2015 - For the first time, a team of scientists has succeeded in precisely measuring and controlling the thickness of an organic compound that has been bound to a graphene layer. This might enable graphene to be used as a sensitive detector for biological molecules in the future. Pure carbon occurs in ...

Strong teeth: Nanostructures under stress make teeth crack resistant

16-Jun-2015 - Human teeth have to serve for a lifetime, despite being subjected to huge forces. But the high failure resistance of dentin in teeth is not fully understood. An interdisciplinary team led by scientists of Charite Universitaetsmedizin Berlin has now analyzed the complex structure of dentin. At the ...

New options for spintronic devices: Switching magnetism between 1 and 0 with low voltage near room temperature

21-May-2015 - Scientists from Paris and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin have been able to switch ferromagnetic domains on and off with low voltage in a structure made of two different ferroic materials. The switching works slightly above room temperature. Their results, which are published online in Scientific ...

Artificial photosynthesis: New, stable photocathode with great potential

18-May-2015 - A team at the HZB Institute for Solar Fuels has developed a new composite photocathode for generating hydrogen with high quantum efficiency using sunlight. This enables solar energy to be stored chemically.The photocathode consists of a thin film of chalcopyrite produced by HZB/PVcomB coated with ...

Stretch and relax! - Losing 1 electron switches magnetism on in dichromium

25-Feb-2015 - The scientists used the unique Nanocluster Trap experimental station at the BESSY II synchrotron radiation source at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and published their results in the Journal Angewandte Chemie.The electronic structure and bonding of seemingly simple diatomic molecules like dichromium ...

Insight into inner magnetic layers

19-Feb-2015 - Measurements at BESSY II have shown how spin filters forming within magnetic sandwiches influence tunnel magnetoresistance - results that can help in designing spintronic component. In doing so, the teams enhanced our understanding of processes that are important for future TMR data storage ...

Scientists get first glimpse of a chemical bond being born

A fundamental advance has big implications for making chemistry more efficient

16-Feb-2015 - Scientists have used an X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to get the first glimpse of the transition state where two atoms begin to form a weak bond on the way to becoming a molecule. This fundamental advance, reported Feb. 12 in Science Express and ...

Resistance makes waves

There is a growing understanding of the conditions required for superconductivity and how it can be achieved at realistic temperatures

02-Jan-2014 - Even physics can give pointers for energy saving. An international team working together with the Centre for Quantum Materials, run by the Max Planck Society in conjunction with the University of British Columbia (Canada), is now in a position to provide materials scientists with tips for the ...