Team finds path to nanodiamond from graphene
Oct 2020, phys.org
Not sure what's more exciting the pic or nanodiomands in general. (image: Diamane, credit to Pavel Sorokin)
They call it diamane, but nanodiamond sounds good enough no?
A "pinpoint" of pressure on a thick sandwich of graphene layers can propagate a crystallizing chemical reaction. Normally, to make diamonds, you need a lot more pressure than a pinpoint. But being nano- and all, we throw out all the rules, and can now make single-crystal diamond film.
Researchers building a harder diamond, called pentadiamonds
Jul 2020, phys.org
Pentadiamonds.
Also, the "diamond anvil cell" is a high-pressure device used in geology, engineering, materials science experiments, and heavy metal band names.
Crystal wars - Research may lead to more efficient crystal engineering methods
Jul 2020, phys.org
Just here for the crystals:
A team of researchers at the University of Tokyo and Fudan University has studied the process of crystallization when more than one structural arrangement is possible. By reducing the noise from random fluctuations, they found that transient precursors of the various crystalline orderings coexist and compete with each other. This work may help lead to more efficient crystal engineering methods.
Crystal engineering.
First sighting of mysterious Majorana fermion on a common metal
Apr 2020, phys.org
Majorana fermions require growing very precise crystals of semiconducting material and it is very challenging to turn these into high-quality superconductors.Physicists at MIT and elsewhere have observed evidence of Majorana fermions—particles that are theorized to also be their own antiparticle—on the surface of a common metal: gold. This is the first sighting of Majorana fermions on a platform that can potentially be scaled up."The next push will be to take these objects and make them into qubits, which would be huge progress toward practical quantum computing," adds co-author Patrick Lee, the William and Emma Rogers Professor of Physics at MIT.
Quantum simulation of quantum crystals
Aug 2020, phys.org
Quantums crystals and BECs.
They're artificial and highly fragile systems, but a place where we can play with atoms.
Scientists make insta-bling at room temperature
Nov 2020, phys.org
Diamonds muthafu**
