Volume 8 Issue 3, March 2013

Experiments on nanowires have shown evidence of solid-state analogues of the particles predicted by Ettore Majorana more than 70 years ago. Although stronger confirmation is still to come, these first observations have already fuelled expectations of fundamental results and potential applications in quantum information technology.

Magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale spin configurations that hold promise as information carriers in ultradense memory and logic devices owing to the extremely low spin-polarized currents needed to move them.

With the help of the Langmuir–Schaefer method, semiconducting carbon nanotubes can be forced into extremely dense arrays with an almost perfect parallel alignment that can be used to create high-performance transistors.

The spin of a single-molecule magnet is coupled to the vibrational motion of a single carbon nanotube.

Numerical simulations suggest that disorder and damping have little effect on the current-induced motion of nanoscale magnetic whirls known as skyrmions.

Magnetic nanoparticles coated with proteins can be used to control the assembly of complex cytoskeletal structures.

Chemists, biologists, surface scientists and engineers discuss the many facets of nanotechnology and what 'control' means to them.

The coupling between a single-molecule spin and a single phonon in a carbon nanotube is observed.

Gate-tunable hole quantum dots can be formed in InSb nanowires and used to demonstrate Pauli spin blockade and electrical control of single hole spins.

A single nitrogen-vacancy centre in a diamond nanocrystal can be trapped by optical tweezers and manipulated in all spatial directions.

Arrays of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes with a nanotube density of more than 500 tubes per micrometre can be assembled using the Langmuir–Schaefer method and used to make transistors with significant device performance.

Two or more enzymes encapsulated in a thin polymer shell can lower blood alcohol levels in intoxicated mice, offering a way to prevent liver injury arising from the overconsumption of alcohol.

Functionalized magnetic nanoparticles act as signalling hot spots that can be manipulated inside living cells to locally trigger intracellular signalling and induce morphological changes.

Magnetic nanoparticles conjugated with certain proteins can be used to control signalling pathways of cells in time and space.

CdSe–CdS nanocrystals with a 100% quantum yield and completely quenched Auger processes at low temperatures are demonstrated.

Pulse-excited resonance-fluorescence single-photons are generated on demand from a single quantum dot embedded in a microcavity under s-shell excitation with an ultrafast laser source.