MNC News

The Quantum+Chips program was a 10 day program designed for undergraduate students to introduce them to key topics in quantum phenomena and their computing devices. The program ran from 7/31/23 to 8/11/23 and involved tutorials on quantum devices and concepts, a computer lab to learn how to program an actual quantum computer, presentations from industry on recent advances in chip technology, lab tours, and visits to local high-tech companies. 

Exciting new results on 2D materials from the Low and Koester groups at @UMN, along with collaborators at Notre Dame and KAIST. In their recent Nature Communications paper, the team showed how a phenomenon known as "band nesting" can be used to achieve near-perfect optical absorption in only two layers of TMD materials. The team showed that by using twisted layers of MoS2 (assembled in the @MNC), or by inserting a graphene buffer layer, optical absorbance as high as 95% can be achieved. The results have significant implications for novel optoelectronic devices, and provide deeper insights into the fundamental light-matter interactions of 2D materials. Here's a link to the article: https://lnkd.in/gitZC8hs

The Nano Center has acquired a new instrument for analyzing powder materials. The Autosorb iQ is a state-of-the-art gas sorption system designed to analyze key properties of powder samples. These properties include the powders’ chemical reactivity, particle porosity, and the total surface area of the particles that make up the powder (the BET surface area). Such measurements are important to many technology areas, such as chemical catalysts and gas storage. The Autosorb system is being installed now and will be available or user training late this summer.