Advancing Aus-Europe exciton physics links

The FLEET-EU 2023 Conference : Transport in exciton condensates and exciton insulators took place on September 11, 2023 in San Benedetto del Tronto, the art-deco resort town known as the Riviera of the Palms situated on the Italian Adriatic coast. The conference was jointly organised by University of Camerino (Italy), University of Antwerp (Belgium), and FLEET, and covered a range …

Beyond imaging: neutron reflectometry of semiconductors and quantum materials

A Meet FLEET innovation-and-industry event poster  The Challenge How can one “see through” the layers of a dilution refrigerator to study the magnetic flux in a thin film or superconductor at cryogenic temperatures? How can one study and control the high-temperature annealing of nanoscale film heterostructures at 1600 K in a vacuum furnace? The ability to “see inside” components is …

The Australian Synchrotron: A materials analysis toolkit

A Meet FLEET innovation-and-industry event poster  The Challenge Development of advanced quantum technologies and devices requires a fundamental understanding of the constituent building block ‘quantum materials’ which underpin their exciting properties Quantum materials require high purity and order (structure and chemistry) Precision measurement techniques are required following growth/fabrication. The Solution The Australian Synchrotron is the southern hemisphere’s brightest source of …

Combining irradiation and lithography to engineer advanced conducting materials

A process has been developed to engineer nanoscale arrays of conducting channels for advanced scalable electronic circuitry Using ion implantation and lithography, investigators created patterns of topological surface edge states on a topological material that made the surface edges conductive while the bulk layer beneath remained an insulator Low energy ion implantation, neutron and X-ray reflectometry techniques at ANSTO supported …

Engineering a novel supersolid state using layered 2D materials

Can a solid be a superfluid? Bilayer excitons form a quantum supersolid A collaboration of Australian and European physicists predict that layered electronic 2D semiconductors can host a curious quantum phase of matter called the supersolid. The supersolid is a very counterintuitive phase indeed. It is made up of particles that simultaneously form a rigid crystal and yet at the …

Destroying the superconductivity in a kagome metal

Electrically controlled superconductor-to-“failed insulator” transition, and giant anomalous Hall effect in the kagome metal CsV3Sb5 A new RMIT-led international collaboration published in February has uncovered, for the first time, a distinct disorder-driven bosonic superconductor-insulator transition. The discovery outlines a global picture of the giant anomalous Hall effect and reveals its correlation with the unconventional charge density wave in the AV3Sb5 …

Let it snow inside liquid metals

Liquid metals are enigmatic metallic solvents. A new UNSW-led study of metallic crystals growing in a liquid metal solvent finds similarities and differences between liquid-metal solvents and more-familiar crystal-growth environments (such as water or the atmosphere) in which snowflakes or crystals of dissolved substances form. We can dissolve a large amount of sugar in water at high temperatures. But as …

Electron Liquids on the Cutting Edge

FLEET Investigator A/Prof Bent Weber, and his team at NTU Singapore, have demonstrated unprecedented control of a one-dimensional flow of electrons in a rare quantum state that physicists have sought to understand for over half a century. The technique suggests a path to more-robust and more-accurate quantum computers. From: Nanyang Technical University, Singapore As you walk in a crowded shopping …

Manipulating interlayer magnetic coupling in van der Waals heterostructures

Electrical control of exchange bias effect in FePS3-Fe5GeTe2 van der Waals heterostructures via proton intercalations A RMIT-led international collaboration published this week has observed, for the first time, electric gate-controlled exchange-bias effect in van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures, offering a promising platform for future energy-efficient, beyond-CMOS electronics. The exchange-bias (EB) effect, which originates from interlayer magnetic coupling, has played a …

Topological superconductors: fertile ground for elusive Majorana particle

Majorana fermions promise information technology with zero resistance A new, multi-node FLEET review investigates the search for Majorana fermions in iron-based superconductors. The elusive Majorana fermion, or ‘angel particle’ proposed by Ettore Majorana in 1937, simultaneously behaves like a particle and an antiparticle – and surprisingly remains stable rather than being self-destructive. Majorana fermions promise information and communications technology with …

Translating research discoveries: introducing FTP

“Inventions and new products come from combining novel and existing technologies” (Joseph Schumpter) What is ‘translation’ anyway? And what are the benefits for me / my work? Does this apply to my work? Will industry be interested in what I’m doing? (Spoiler: Yes it does! Matt Davis explains quantum weighbridges) How can FLEET help me do this? A FLEET audience …

Welcoming Simon Granville (MacDiarmid) new FLEET Partner Investigator

Welcome to FLEET’s long-time collaborator Dr Simon Granville, who this month joins the Centre as a Partner Investigator. Simon is a Principal Investigator at FLEET’s partner organisation the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, where he leads the Institute’s Future Computing project to control electron transport and spin through superconductivity and topology. As a Senior Scientist at the Robinson …

World record broken for thinnest X-ray detector ever created

Highly sensitive and with a rapid response time, the new X-ray detector is less than 10 nanometres thick and could potentially lead to real-time imaging of cellular biology. Exciton Science and FLEET researchers have used tin mono-sulfide (SnS) nanosheets to create the thinnest X-ray detector ever made, potentially enabling real-time imaging of cellular biology. X-ray detectors are tools that allow …

Sandwich-style construction: towards ultra-low-energy exciton electronics

New microcavity construction technique allows observation of robust, room-temperature exciton transport Polariton performance optimised by maximising photon-exciton energy exchange, minimizing the damage to monolayer A new ‘sandwich-style’ fabrication process placing a semiconductor only one atom thin between two mirrors has allowed Australian researchers to make a significant step towards ultra-low energy electronics based on the light-matter hybrid particles exciton-polaritons. The …

Transforming the layered ferromagnet Fe5GeTe2 for future spintronics

Realizing in-situ magnetic phase transition in metallic van-der-Waals magnet Fe5GeTe2 via ultra-high charge doping A RMIT-led international collaboration published this week has achieved record-high electron doping in a layered ferromagnet, causing magnetic phase transition with significant promise for future electronics Control of magnetism (or spin directions) by electric voltage is vital for developing future, low-energy high-speed nano-electronic and spintronic devices, …

Inducing and tuning spin interactions in layered material by inserting iron atoms, protons

Controlling Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) in chiral magnet iron-doped tantalum-sulfide by proton intercalation Magnetic-spin interactions that allow spin-manipulation by electrical control allow potential applications in energy-efficient spintronic devices. An antisymmetric exchange known as Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions (DMI) is vital to form various chiral spin textures, such as skyrmions, and permits their potential application in energy-efficient spintronic devices. Published this week, a Chinese-Australia …

Creative, online lab demonstrations maintain international collaborations

How does global research collaboration work, while Covid-19 still prevents international in-lab visits? A recent FLEET collaboration found a creative solution, running in-lab demonstrations of new quantum technologies across multiple universities on two continents. FLEET’s Matthias Wurdack (ANU) and Semonti Bhattacharyya (Monash) were able to consult with researchers in the New York lab of FLEET PI Jim Hone (Columbia University), …

Electrons on the edge: Atomically-thin quantum spin Hall materials

An exotic class of topological quantum materials has been reviewed by an international team of physicists, led by A/Prof Bent Weber at Nanyang Technological University (NTU – Singapore). Atomically-thin quantum spin Hall insulators, whose electronic states are protected by topology, promise applications in quantum information processing. Quantum spin Hall insulators are a class of two-dimensional (2D) topological states of matter …

Liquid metals spin-off launched

The Liquid-metals spin-off company Liquid Metal Plus (LM+) initiated in 2020 with FLEET investigators Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh (UNSW) and Dr Torben Daeneke (RMIT), together with Dorna Esrafilzadeh (UNSW), was launched in April 2021. Pushing print on flexible touchscreens Climate rewind: turning CO2 back into coal The company has two areas of focus, with the unifying theme being application of liquid-metal technologies …

Explainer: Linkage funding for topological-thermoelectricity

A team led by FLEET CI Prof Xiaolin Wang (University of Wollongong) has won a linkage project for topological materials based thermoelectricity. Thermoelectricity can directly convert heat to electrical energy or vice-versa. It plays an important role in renewable and sustainable energy by harvesting waste heat, which is widely available in human body, computer chips, sunlight and steel industry. Thermoelectric …

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Thermoelectric devices convert waste heat from industry into viable new energy source

New research supports development of thermoelectric devices to convert waste heat from industry into a viable new energy source Australian industries could benefit from being able to harness the heat by-products from operations Development of advanced materials can sustainably convert waste heat into useful forms of energy to benefit Australia. The work will be undertaken as part of an Australian …

Monthly talks bring Australian research to the physics community

A series of talks spotlights leading Australian physics research for the physics community. Co-organised by FLEET and the Australian Institute of Physics, the series throws the spotlight on a different Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence each month, with AIP members and others in the physics community dialing in over zoom to hear about leading Australian research. To date, over …

Online format is easy, enjoyable engaging: SMP 2021

This years’ Science Meets Parliament 2021 transitioned to a mostly virtual event and I must admit, I enjoyed this format thoroughly.  The format involved shorter sessions scheduled throughout March, which made it much easier to attend amongst other work and family commitments. This extended program was in conjunction with 2 full days of focused sessions with seminars on topics such …

Zebra stripes, leopard spots and other patterns on the skin of frozen metal alloys that defy conventional metallurgy

“Stripy zebra, spotty leopard, …”. Kids never become bored pinpointing animals based on their unique body patterns. While it is fascinating that living creatures develop distinct patterns on their skin, what may be even more mysterious is their striking similarity to the skin of frozen liquid metals. Pattern formation is a classic example of one of nature’s wonders that scientists …

Kitchen-temperature supercurrents from stacked 2D materials

Could a stack of 2D materials allow for supercurrents at ground-breakingly warm temperatures, easily achievable in the household kitchen? An international study published in August opens a new route to high-temperature supercurrents at temperatures as ‘warm’ as inside a kitchen fridge. The ultimate aim is to achieve superconductivity (ie, electrical current without any energy loss to resistance) at a reasonable …

Using protons to tune interlayer forces in van-der-Waals materials

Interlayer coupling in vdW material Fe3GeTe2 successfully increased by insertion of protons A Chinese-Australian collaboration has demonstrated for the first time that interlayer coupling in a van der Waals (vdW) material can be largely modulated by a protonic gate, which inject protons to devices from an ionic solid. The discovery opens the way to exciting new uses of vdW materials, …

ANSTO Scholarship for FLEET PhD Qile Li

Congratulations to FLEET PhD student Qile Li, whose excellent work in probing electronic structures of novel materials has been recognised by an award and scholarship from the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE). At ANSTO’s Australian Synchrotron, Qile Li uses Angle-Resolved Photo-Electron Spectroscopy (ARPES) to measure electronic properties of intrinsic magnetic topological insulators. Intrinsic magnetic topological insulators are …

Skilling researchers up for a post-pandemic career

Around 35 PhDs and other Early Career Researchers from FLEET and partner organisation the MacDiarmid Institute took a chance last week to learn how to take control of their future in these uncertain times, and to gain a better understanding of the job market (both in academia and industry) with a targeted, one-hour workshop from “the thesis whisperer”. A/Prof Inger …

What comes after CMOS? An expert discussion

A panel of experts featuring Dr Paolo Gargini (formerly Intel, head of several international semiconductor roadmaps), Prof Michelle Simmons (UNSW, Director. ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology) and Prof Michael Fuhrer (Monash Uni., Director of ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low Energy Electronics Technologies.) and a guided discussion about the future of electronics beyond CMOS and the role semiconductors and other materials …

Interfaces the key in atomically-thin, ‘high temperature’ superconductors

An international FLEET collaboration publishing a review of atomically-thin ‘high temperature’ superconductors finds that each has a common driving mechanism: interfaces. The team, including researchers from the University of Wollongong, Monash University and Tsinghua University (Beijing), found that interfaces between materials were the key to superconductivity in all systems examined. The enhancement of superconductivity at interfaces (interface superconductivity enhancement effect) …

Kirrily Rule live-streamed neutron-scattering talk to the AIP

FLEET Partner Investigator Kirrily Rule (ANSTO) introduced an audience of over 100 to the use of neutron scattering in material analysis last week, in a live-streamed seminar co-hosted with the Australian Institute of Physics. Neutron scattering is a powerful tool for investigating the structure and dynamics of condensed matter systems. In particular the magnetic spin of the neutron can interact …

Supercool recognition for Qi-Kun Xue

Congratulations to Tsinghua Vice-President, and FLEET partner investigator, Prof Qi-kun Xue, one of the recipients of the 2020 Fritz London Prize, which recognises scientists making outstanding contributions in the field of low-temperature physics. Within FLEET, Prof Xue coordinates the collaboration between Tsinghua and FLEET, including a significant exchange program of student and postdoctoral researchers. He also provides critical insights in …

Hosting scientific meetings in 2019

FLEET supported significant international and Australian conferences in 2019, which was bookended by major, FLEET-hosted conferences at the end of 2018 (ICON2D-Mat) and beginning of 2020 (ICSCE). With new partner organisation the MacDiarmid Institute (NZ), FLEET co-organised the Conference on Signature of Topology in Condensed Matter in Italy, working closely with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Almost 120 researchers …

MacDiarmid visit

Simon Granville, a Principal Investigator of the MacDiarmid Institute, visited FLEET collaborators at RMIT (Lan Wang and Torben Daeneke), Monash (Michael Fuhrer, Mark Edmonds, Julie Karel), UNSW (Jan Seidel’s group) and the University of Wollongong (Xiaolin Wang and David Cortie) in February to plan upcoming exchanges as part of several FLEET-MacDiarmid research collaborations funded in the 1st round of reciprocal …

Establishing a collaborative culture across FLEET in 2019

First research workshop organised by early-career researchers (ECRs) and students Cross-node publications increased by 18% (from 7 to 11 ) Four FLEET-wide, live-streamed seminars run in 2019 (target 10) New $50,000 grant created for collaborative projects with partner MacDiarmid Institute New $20,000 funding pool established for ECR collaborative grants with partner organisations Christmas in July social event, Melbourne nodes 30 …

Collaborating 2019

FLEET continues to build links with other science organisations within Australia to further the reach of science, advance equity issues and develop future leaders, for example: Sponsoring childcare at the annual Science Meets Parliament, with Science and Technology Australia (STA) Running pitch training with two other ARC Centres of Excellence Co-sponsoring Physics in the Pub with three ARC Centres of …

Welcome Mingliang Tian (CAS): new FLEET PI

FLEET extends a warm welcome to Professor Mingliang Tian, who joins the Centre as a new Partner Investigator. Professor Tian is vice-director of the Chinese Academy of Science’s High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Anhui province, China, which becomes a new partner organisation for FLEET. At the CAS, Professor Tian’s group studies on low-dimensional electronic systems and artificial nanostructures such as …

New Trans-Tasman research will aid search for sustainable future computing: FLEET-MacDiarmid partnership signed

Ahead of this weekend’s Climate Action Summit in New York, FLEET (Australia) and the MacDiarmid Institute (New Zealand) today announced a new partnership between the two science organisations, which share a mission to search for future low-energy electronics via the development of novel materials and devices. MacDiarmid is the premier centre for materials research in NZ, and co-Directors Professor Justin …

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Kirrily Rule Partner Investigator

Welcome to Kirrily Rule (ANSTO), who joins FLEET as a new Partner Investigator. Dr Kirrily Rule is an internationally-recognised leader in understanding low-dimensional and ‘frustrated’ magnetic materials. At ANSTO, she is one of three instrument scientists responsible for ANSTO’s triple-axis spectrometer TAIPAN , which provides highly detailed information of collective motions of atoms in solids, including phase transitions. Within FLEET, …

Expanded partnership with Tsinghua University: meet FLEET’s two new Partner Investigators

FLEET’s fruitful relationship with Tsinghua University (Beijing) has been expanded, with the Centre welcoming two new Partner Investigators to lead research collaborations. Prof Shuyun Zhou studies the electronic structure of novel two-dimensional materials and heterostructures using advanced electron spectroscopic tools, including angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), spin-resolved ARPES, nano-ARPES and ultrafast, time-resolved ARPES. She has made important progress on the electronic structure …

Topological material switched off and on for the first time: key advance for future topological transistors

Significant step toward future topological electronics The first electric field-switchable topological material Topological transistors would be an ultra-low energy , beyond CMOS solution to ICT energy use after the end of Moore’s Law Over the last decade, there has been much excitement about the discovery, recognised by the Nobel Prize in Physics only two years ago, that there are two …

New Australia–Italy collaboration: FLEET partners with University of Camerino

FLEET is pleased to announce a new partnership with the University of Camerino (Italy), which will exploit strengths of both groups in the study of exciton superfluids. The University’s Professor Andrea Perali and Professor David Neilson join FLEET as new Partner Investigators. Professors Perali and Neilson study the theory of of exciton superfluids,and since 2012 have collaborated with FLEET’s Deputy …

FLEET Director Michael Fuhrer in sustainable material-science event, NZ

Michael Fuhrer spoke last month at the NZ sustainable material-science event, Materialise, an event that saw significant coverage in NZ mainstream and science media. FLEET collaborators the MacDiarmid Institute organised the event, and surrounding coverage featured: an online game featuring a micro-sized Michael Fuhrer radio interview with MacDiarmid’s Nicola Gaston NZ Herald article re sustainable energy research, ultra low energy …

New FLEET partnerships with Beijing and Wroclaw

We are extremely pleased to announce two new FLEET partners. The Beijing Computational Science Research Center (CSRC) and Wroclaw University of Science and Technology have joined the 13 other leading Australian and international science organisations partnering with FLEET. Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (WUST) is Poland’s top-ranked new-technology university, excelling in computer science, electronics and materials science. Our new Partner …

Atomic-scale material engineering, inspired by nature

New materials inspired by nature could be key to future electronics Self-assembled nanostructures have atomically-precise structure and tailored electronic properties Bio organisms are the most-complex machines we know, and are capable of achieving demanding functions with great efficiency. A common theme in these bio-machines is that everything important happens at the level of single molecules – that is, at the …

Puzzling results explained: a multiband approach to Coulomb drag and indirect excitons

Taking a multiband approach explains ‘electron-hole reverse drag’ and exciton formation Mystifying experimental results obtained independently by two research groups in the USA seemed to show coupled holes and electrons moving in the opposite direction to theory. Now, a new theoretical study has explained the previously mysterious result, by showing that this apparently contradictory phenomenon is associated with the bandgap …

Science fiction becomes science fact as researchers create liquid metal heartbeat

Discovery has potential applications in artificial muscles, soft robotics and microfluidic circuitry In a breakthrough discovery, University of Wollongong (UOW) researchers have created a “heartbeat” effect in liquid metal, causing the metal to pulse rhythmically in a manner similar to a beating heart. Their findings are published in the 11 July issue of Physical Review Letters, the world’s premier journal …

Gordon Godfrey Workshop sparks spin & electron-correlation discussion at UNSW

Over 80 Australian and international physicists met at UNSW last month to discuss spin and strong-electron correlations in the university’s biennial Gordon Godfrey Workshop, including a very strong FLEET contingent. Leading international speakers came from as far afield as China, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Russia and USA, including Prof David Neilson (University of Camerino), a pioneer of electron-hole exciton …

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Spin gapless semiconductors: promising materials for novel spintronics and dissipationless current flow

A University of Wollongong study has tightened the search for materials that would allow for ultra-fast, ultra-low energy ‘spintronic‘ electronics with no wasted dissipation of energy from electrical conduction. Spintronics is an emerging field of electronic study in which the ‘spin’ of electrons (their intrinsic angular momentum) is used in addition to their charge. Conventional electronics and information technology are …