Volume 8 Issue 8, August 2013

Plasmons have been excited on the surface states of the topological insulator Bi₂Se₃.

A technique combining direct nanotube transfer with scanning probe microscopy can be used to create ultraclean one-dimensional electron systems in suspended carbon nanotubes.

Experiments on Bi-doped silicon demonstrate the existence of atomic clock transitions that can be used to enhance the coherence of solid-state qubits.

Macromolecular crowding affects the performance and robustness of gene expression in synthetic cellular systems.

Cascade reactions can be used to carry out logic operations on the surface of cells and identify the presence of particular collections of cell surface markers.

This Progress Article examines the characteristic features of low-frequency electronic noise in graphene, and discusses the implications and potential applications of such noise in graphene-based electronic devices.

Plasmonic excitation of massless electrons is observed in Bi₂Se₃.

Clock transitions, typically observed in arrays of trapped atoms, can now be observed for electron spins in silicon doped with bismuth.

A qubit based on a valley–spin state can be realized in a carbon nanotube quantum dot.

A precision nanoassembly technique is used to deterministically create locally tunable, ultralow-disorder electron systems in suspended carbon nanotubes.

A bias voltage can be used to reversibly switch between the two states of a coupled spin pair in a single magnetic molecule.

A molecular automaton comprising antibodies and oligonucleotides evaluates cells in a Boolean manner by executing a chemical cascade on cell surfaces.

Spin–orbit torques in heavy metal/ferromagnetic layers have a complex dependence on the magnetization direction. This dependence can be exploited to increase the efficiency of spin–orbit torques.

Computer simulations reveal that graphene nanosheets damage bacteria by penetrating into or extracting phospholipids from the cell membranes, offering new insights into the molecular basis of graphene cytotoxicity.

Macromolecular crowding can increase the robustness of gene expression in artificial cellular systems.