Multiferroics are materials that simultaneously exhibit two or more ferroic orders—stable arrangements of physical properties that can be switched using an external stimulus. These materials could be highly advantageous for the development of various technologies, including non-volatile, low-power memory devices, spintronic devices, miniaturized electronics, neuromorphic hardware, sensors and magnetoelectric devices.

A team of researchers led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) developed an approach that enabled them to directly observe how electrons interact with defects in advanced semiconductor devices in unprecedented detail. The team’s methodology included an innovative simulation tool that enabled accurate theoretical interpretations of its experimental observations.

Cornell physicists have discovered that minimizing disorder, not varying electron count, is the key factor for controlling superconductivity in the unique material iron selenide (FeSe), a new insight for understanding high-temperature superconductors.

Physicists at The City College of New York have demonstrated a new way to transfer microwave signals onto light using magnetic waves inside a layered semiconductor. The work establishes a materials platform for building interfaces that could one day link quantum computers through optical networks. The research, titled “Microwave-to-optical transduction using magnon–exciton coupling,” was led by the Laboratory for Nano and Micro Photonics (LaNMP) at CCNY, headed by physics professor Vinod M. Menon. It appears in the journal Nature Materials.