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Paving the way for fast-as-light, ultra-compact communication systems and optoelectronic devices, Berkeley Lab scientists have developed a technique for steering the curved path of plasmonic Airy beams -- combinations of laser light and quasi-particles called surface plasmon polaritons.

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's National Center for Electron Microscopy have solved the mystery of one of the most promising aluminum alloys ever for strength, hardness, lightness, and resistance to corrosion and heat. The secret is the formation of core-shell nanoparticles all nearly the same size.

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and their colleagues at the University of California and Nanjing University have discovered a new relation among electric and magnetic fields and differences in temperature, which can result in swirling vortices of electrons and holes in semiconductor devices and emit sideways magnetic fields. Understanding the unusual new effect may lead to more efficient thermoelectric devices, which convert heat into electricity or electricity into heat.

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have built a high-capacity energy storage device for lithium ion batteries by constructing a unique nanoscale sandwich of graphene and tin. The device is engineered to improve electrochemical cycling of the battery, which reduces charging time and allows repeated recharging without degrading battery performance.

Berkeley Lab researchers have found a way to make copper-catalyzed click chemistry biocompatible. By adding a ligand that minimizes the toxicity of copper but still allows it to catalyze the click chemistry reaction, the researchers can safely use their reaction in living cells.

From core to surface, a constant flow of trillions of watts of heat enables Earth's magnetic field, spreads the sea floors, and keeps continents on the move. Much of it comes from the radioactive decay of elements in the crust and mantle, but how much? By measuring neutrinos from deep in the Earth, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and their colleagues at Japan's KamLAND have published the most precise estimate yet of radiogenic heat.

Manganites exhibiting colossal magnetoresistance and high-temperature superconductors are among materials that show their stripes, regions where electrical charges concentrate. Until now, only static stripes have been seen. At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory a team of scientists from the University of Colorado, Berkeley Lab, and Argonne, using the Advanced Light Source's beamline 12.0.1, have discovered a manganite whose stripes form or fall apart depending on the temperature, simultaneously giving rise to colossal changes in electrical conductivity.