Search for Advanced Materials Aided by Discovery of Hidden Symmetries in Nature (2 of 2) (IMAGE)
Caption
This 2-D image illustrates a lattice composed of two repeating squares that represent molecular structures, one rotated clockwise (color coded blue) and another counterclockwise (color coded orange) with respect to each other. Such structures have many more symmetries than had been recognized before a new way of understanding the structure of proteins, polymers, minerals, and engineered materials was discovered by Venkatraman Gopalan and Daniel B. Litvin at Penn State Unviersity (to be published in May 2011 in Nature Materials). The discovery, a new type of symmetry in the structure of materials, greatly expands the possibilities for discovering or designing materials with desired properties. The research is expected to have broad relevance in many development efforts involving physical, chemical, biological, or engineering disciplines including; for example, the search for advanced ferroelectric ferromagnet materials for next-generation ultrasound devices and computers.
Credit
Penn State University, Gopalan lab, Ryan Haislmaier
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