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A schematic drawing of how a ring of exceptional points (shown in white) can be spawned from a Dirac point (a dot), and thus change the dispersion from the normal, widely known conical shape into an exotic lantern-like shape

How to spawn an “exceptional ring”

Researchers create exotic states that could lead to new kinds of sensors and optical devices.

September 9, 2015

Yarn made of niobium nanowires, seen here in a scanning electron microscope image (background), can be used to make very efficient supercapacitors, MIT researchers have found. Adding a coating of a conductive polymer to the yarn (shown in pink, inset) further increases the capacitor’s charge capacity. Positive and negative ions in the material are depicted as blue and red spheres.

Tiny wires could provide a big energy boost

Yarns of niobium nanowire can make supercapacitors to provide a surge of energy when it’s needed

July 7, 2015

In the process called initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD), Heated wires (pink cylinders) cause “initiator” molecules (red) to split, and they then interact with the monomers (purple) used for coating, causing them to collect on the cooler surface below, where they react to form a polymer chain as they build up in a uniform coating (bottom right).

Explained: chemical vapor deposition

Technique enables production of pure, uniform coatings of metals or polymers, even on contoured surfaces.

June 19, 2015

Laurent Demanet, Nuh Gedik, Shuhei Ono, Pablo Jarillo-Herrero

Four professors granted tenure in the School of Science

June 1, 2015

An uncoated copper condenser tube (top left) is shown next to a similar tube coated with graphene (top right). When exposed to water vapor at 100 degrees Celsius, the uncoated tube produces an inefficient water film (bottom left), while the coated shows the more desirable dropwise condensation (bottom right).

Thin coating on condensers could make power plants more efficient

Graphene layer one atom thick could quadruple rate of condensation heat transfer in generating plants.

May 29, 2015

Measuring hot electrons

MIT graduate student Qiong Ma is uncovering electrical properties of graphene-based devices using laser-light stimulation.

May 26, 2015

Copper substrate is shown in the process of being coated with graphene. At left, the process begins by treating the copper surface, and, at right, the graphene layer is beginning to form. Upper images are taken using visible light microscopy, and lower images using a scanning electron microscope.

How to make continuous rolls of graphene

New manufacturing process could take exotic material out of the lab and into commercial products.

May 21, 2015

Researchers have shown that a DC voltage applied to layers of graphene and boron nitride can be used to control light emission from a nearby atom. In these figures, graphene is represented by a maroon-colored top layer; boron nitride is represented by yellow-green lattices below the graphene; and the atom is represented by a grey circle. An applied DC voltage can drastically modify the graphene la...

Taking control of light emission

Researchers find a way of tuning light waves by pairing two exotic 2-D materials.

May 20, 2015

Probing graphene physics

MIT postdoc Javier Sanchez-Yamagishi charts quantum signatures of electronic transport in graphene.

May 19, 2015

In a two-step process, engineers have successfully sealed leaks in graphene. First, the team fabricated graphene on a copper surface (top left) — a process that can create intrinsic defects in graphene, shown as cracks on the surface. After lifting the graphene and depositing it on a porous surface (top right), the transfer creates further holes and tears. In a first step (bottom left), the team...

Plugging up leaky graphene

New technique may enable faster, more durable water filters.

May 8, 2015

Electrons corralled using new quantum tool

“Whispering gallery” effect confines electrons, could provide basis for new electron-optics devices.

May 7, 2015

Faculty highlight: Pablo Jarillo-Herrero

MIT physics professor has played a leading role in the development of revolutionary new artificial materials.

May 6, 2015

Elfar Adalsteinsson, Luca Daniel, Polina Golland, Jing Kong, Antonio Torralba, Adam Chlipala, Yury Polyanskiy, and Vinod Vaikuntanathan.

Faculty promotions announced in EECS

Five faculty are promoted to full professor; three faculty promoted to associate professor.

March 19, 2015

Why do layered materials form one kind of wrinkly pattern or another? MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering Xuanhe Zhao and postdoc Qiming Wang describe a patterning process that applies to everything, including folds of the brain, wrinkles on a cat, or the ridged skin of pumpkins.

The secret of wrinkling, folding, and creasing

New research provides a general formula for understanding how layered materials form different surface patterns.

March 9, 2015

Meet the 2015 MIT Siebel Scholars

Graduate students in computer science, bioengineering, and business honored.

January 21, 2015

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