Although long assumed to have an important role in the suppression of crystallization and the development of glassformers, the effect of local fivefold symmetry has never been directly tested.

They became the first in the world to observe the process where the molecular symmetry of solutes changes, altering the crystallization pathways and forming new material phases. Senior research ...

Tiny strains in a crystal can cause electrons to behave in a surprising way that closely resembles a highly sought-after ...

The return of symmetry directly affected the electronic ... This change can influence how well the crystals conduct electricity and respond to external forces, such as electric fields.

scientists have been confined to high-symmetry designs when synthesizing colloidal crystals, a valuable type of nanomaterial used for chemical and biological sensing and optoelectronic devices. Now, ...

Crystals are important in materials from skeletons ... into shapes that have no relation to their original crystal symmetry, and why some contaminants are so difficult to remove from stream ...

Time crystals break time-translational symmetry rather than spatial symmetry, as ordinary crystals do. Peter Hannaford and Krzysztof Sacha look at how this exotic state could have similar applications ...

Crystals are extraordinary objects, not least because of their symmetry. Crystals form repeating patterns that are the same in some directions but not all directions. That’s something of a ...

Unlike clocks or any other known objects, time crystals derive their movement not from stored energy but from a break in the symmetry of time, enabling a special form of perpetual motion.

Time crystals take an important unifying concept in physics — the idea of symmetry breaking — and extend it to time. Physical laws typically treat all points in space equally — no one ...