Physics Department News
Determining crystal structure to high precision with electron diffraction
Until now, electron diffraction has not determined atomic positions in a crystal to the same accuracy (10^-13 m) as X-rays. We describe a new method which does this and more.
Quantitative High-Dynamic-Range Electron Diffraction of Polar Nanodomains in Pb2ScTaO6
Relaxor ferroelectrics have useful behaviour not yet fully understood. We used electron diffraction to show that ferroelectric behaviour in PST is actually due to two coupled antiferroelectric modes.
Stable Defects in Semiconductor Nanowires
Nanowires should be defect-free since they expel defects with strain fields. However, we found new types of defect with zero Burgers vector and no strain field in GaAs nanowires.
Subtleties of witnessing quantum coherence in nonisolated systems
Tests of quantum coherence could demonstrate biological systems exploiting quantum phenomena. This paper discusses such tests and how the role the environment must be considered to witness coherence.