Nature Materials - CURRENT ISSUE : May 2008 - Vol 7 No 5
- Tears without tears
- Gallium oxide: Conductivity through chemistry
- Ferroelectrics: The organic approach
- Superconductivity: Fullerides reach new heights
LATEST CONTENT
Current issue
Organic Ferroelectrics
Review by Horiuchi and TokuraAlthough organic ferroelectrics have been known since the 1920s, few such compounds have been found. In this review article, new approaches to successfully design organic ferroelectrics are examined.
Focus
We examine the role of academia–industry collaborations in the design and understanding of polymers, how such collaborations can improve and shorten development routes to products, and the benefits they can bring to the academic partner.
Advanced online publication
Keep that magnetism
Letter by Stolichnov et al.Diluted magnetic semiconductor devices where magnetism can be controlled by an electric field are of significant interest for applications, as they combine the appealing properties of multiferroics with existing semiconductor technology. By using a ferroelectric polymer as the gate of a transistor device, non-volatile electric control over the magnetism of (Ga,Mn)As has now been achieved.
Advanced online publication
Holographic memories
Article by Gallego-Gómez et al.Organic holographic materials are pursued as versatile and cheap data-storage materials. However, previously such materials either needed the application of an external electric field or had mostly poor efficiencies. Now, a novel recording process based on a photoisomerization process demonstrates significantly improved writing properties of holograms.
Advanced online publication
Multiferroic devices
Article by Chu et al.Multiferroic materials are of interest because they allow control of their magnetic properties through electric fields. However, room-temperature magnetoelectrics often show antiferromagnetic order, reducing the effects of such coupling. A novel approach demonstrates switchable electric field control over a local magnetic field through the indirect route of exchange bias.
Advanced online publication
Organic electronics
Article by Huang et al.Understanding how excited states behave at heterojunctions between polymers in blends is fundamental to designing better organic solar cells and light-emitting diodes. A quantum-mechanical molecular-scale model of how excitations behave at heterojunctions has been developed, showing an unexpectedly wide but specific range of excitonic states.