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Condensed matter systems provide a rich setting to realize Dirac and Majorana fermionic excitations and the possibility to manipulate them in materials for potential applications. Recently, it has been proposed that Weyl fermions, which are chiral, massless particles, can emerge in certain bulk materials or in topological insulator multilayers and can produce unusual transport properties, such as charge pumping driven by a chiral anomaly. A pair of Weyl fermions protected by crystalline symmetry, effectively forming a massless

In this study,we focus on the adsorption and desorption of metal adatoms, which can modulate the electrical resistivity by several orders of magnitude. We develop material-based relationships of the adsorp-tion energy with electronic and atomic structure descriptors by examining the effects of various transition-metal adsorbates on the surface of TMDs. Our results reveal that adsorption energies of transition metals exhibit consistent trends across different TMDs (MoS2, MoSe2, WS2, WSe2)and can be explained using simple descriptors of the atomic and electronic structure. We propose several models to describe this adsorption process, providing a deeper understanding of a crucial step in the resistive switching mechanism based on the formation and dissolution of point defects.

One of the research goals of UCSD MRSEC IRG2 included developing shape-shifting materials driven by asymmetric forces. In a recent effort, the MRSEC team demonstrated an ELM capable of shape-shifting driven by both a temperature stimulus and enzymatic mediated partial degradation of the composite material.

In this work, we study a novel dynamical phase transition of light, where photon-photon interactions and dissipation into the environment are key aspects of the physics. Together they give rise to a transition from a region of classical behavior into a regime where quantum effects dominate. The transition was observed in a Jaynes-Cummings dimer built from two coupled microwave cavities (shown in the upper picture. In this system, photons repel each other due to the presence of nearby superconducting

LCMRC researchers have found an extraordinary nematic liquid crystal phase, a new entry in the most widely studied and widely applied class of liquid crystals.  In the whole history of

A slimy layer of mucus serves as the first line of defense against problematic microbes like the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We have identified mucins, the major gel-forming components of mucus, and their complex sugar structures (glycans) as protective molecules that suppress microbial virulence traits including toxin secretion, bacterial communication, and surface attachment.

The collaboration among Hong Tang, Charles Ahn, and Fred Walker’s groups recently realized a new type of electro-optic modulator based on epitaxial ferroelectric BaTiO3 on silicon. A very high Pockels’ coefficient, up to 213 pm/V, was demonstrated, a record value that is more than six times larger than found in commercial optical modulators based on lithium niobate. The monolithically integrated BaTiO3 optical modulators show modulation bandwidth in the gigahertz regime, which is promising for broadband applications.

FORGES is a summer program aimed at high school students interested in STEM careers. In partnership with the University of Delaware, the program offers hands-on experiences in materials science, chemistry, biology, and physics. Activities included identifying polymers, measuring material properties, and performing gene editing techniques. After the program, 87% of students felt more confident about attending college, and all participants were more inclined to pursue STEM careers and felt better prepared for laboratory work.

Connecting Research and Education At TExas (CREATE) is a partnership program established between UT Austin and Austin Community College (ACC) whose goal is to increase retention of community college students in STEM. CREATE works to achieve this goal by building relationships between ACC students and UT Austin researchers through a fall/spring seminar series held at ACC that features UT faculty speakers and a 9-week summer research program that pairs ACC students with research mentors at UT Austin.