Customers' achievements

Artificial spin ice offers the possibility to investigate a variety of dipolar orderings, spin frustrations and ground states. We have investigated magnetic dipoles arranged on a honeycomb lattice as a function of applied field, using magnetic force microscopy.

The researchers have registered concerns about the possible adverse
effects of engineered nanomaterials in consumer products on human health
and the environment.
The recent study published in Nature Nantechnology has shown that carbon
nanotubes can be biodegraded by natural defenses of the human body.

For the first time, we show large (64 x 64 up to 200 x 200 pixels), high-resolution TERS imaging with full spectral information at every pixel, which is necessary for the chemical identification of sample constituents. With a scanning tunneling microscope tip and feedback, these TERS maps can be recorded with a resolution better than 15 nm (most likely even less).

Here, we report the first direct observation of nitrogen-vacancy centres in discrete 5-nm nanodiamonds at room temperature, including evidence for intermittency in the luminescence (blinking) from the nanodiamonds. We also show that it is possible to control this blinking by modifying the surface of the nanodiamonds.

In this paper, the application of TERS to study differentiation of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with 14 nm spatial resolution is demonstrated by the measurement of a mixture of two different types of SWCNTs as the model sample. The results demonstrate that TERS is a viable tool for the detection and localization of different SWCNTs and amorphous carbon in mixed SWCNTs based on the spectral differences in the radial breathing mode and the D bands.

High resolution tip-enhanced Raman mapping (TERM) was applied to polymer thin films. The comparison of TERM images at different stages of the phase separation process revealed an unexpected transition of PMMA from the dispersed phase to the continuous phase.