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Molecules and polymers have unique electronic and optical properties suitable for use in electronic devices. These properties, however, are complex and not well understood

Knowing how to control the combined magnetic properties of interacting electrons will provide the basis to develop an important tool for advancing spintronics: a technology that aims to harness these properties for computation and communication.

Water (H2O) has a simple composition, but its dizzyingly interconnected hydrogen-bonded networks make structural characterizations challenging. In particular, the organization of water surfaces—a region critical to processes in cell biology and atmospheric chemistry—has caused profound disagreements among scientists

In the developing field of spintronics, physicists are designing devices to transmit data using the inherent axial rotation, or spin, of electrons rather than their charge as is used in electronics. Weak coupling of electron spin to electrical currents, however, makes gaining this level of control difficult

To probe the evolution of atomic nuclei with different shape -- a factor which affects atomic stability -- a large team of international researchers has added neutrons to zirconium atoms and revealed the possibility of very unusual shapes. "The shape of a nucleus reflects the symmetry of its quantum state," explains team member Hiroyoshi Sakurai from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science in Wako, Japan.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Spintronics — also known as magnetoelectronics — may replace electronics as the medium of choice for computer memory. The discovery of a mechanism that produces permanent magnets at room temperature, without any external influence, may soon improve the design of spintronic devices. Takumi Ohtsuki from the RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Harima and his colleagues in Japan, made the discovery in a class of material called a dilute ferromagnetic oxide.