This week, the Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference takes place in Scottsdale, Arizona. This article takes a look back on the discovery of electromagnons, and how it influenced the search for materials with coupled electric and magnetic properties. Physical phenomena living in two worlds have long inspired scientists and popular culture alike. A good example is light, which consists of c...

We measured and quantified the local electric polarization properties of ultrathin (∼5 nm) biolayers on mm-thick mica substrates. We achieved it by scanning a sharp conductive tip (<10 nm radius) of an electrostatic force microscope over the biolayers and quantifying sub-picoNewton electric polarization forces with a sharp-tip model implemented using finite-element numerical calculations. We ob...

We report a microfluidic device for rapid and efficient concentration of micro/nanoparticles with direct current dielectrophoresis (DC DEP). The concentrator is composed of a series of microchannels constructed with PDMS-insulating microstructures for efficiently focusing the electric field in the flow direction to provide high field strength and gradient. The location of the trapped and concen...

Thermoplastics under voltages are used in diverse applications ranging from insulating cables to organic capacitors. Electromechanical instabilities have been proposed as a mechanism that causes electrical breakdown of thermoplastics. However, existing experiments cannot provide direct observations of the instability process, and existing theories for the instabilities generally assume thermopl...

We derive a generalized set of Ward identities that captures the effects of topological charge on Hall transport. The Ward identities follow from the 2+1 dimensional momentum algebra, which includes a central extension proportional to the topological charge density. In the presence of topological objects like Skyrmions, we observe that the central term leads to a direct relation between the the...

Dielectrophoresis is a non-destructive, label-free method to manipulate and separate (bio-) particles and macromolecules. The mechanism is based on the movement of polarizable objects in an inhomogeneous electric field. Here, microfluidic devices are reviewed that generate those inhomogeneous electric fields with insulating posts or constrictions, an approach called electrodeless or insulator-b...

Solid-state nanopores have emerged as a versatile tool for the characterization of single biomolecules such as nucleic acids and proteins. However, the creation of a nanopore in a thin insulating membrane remains challenging. Fabrication methods involving specialized focused electron beam systems can produce well-defined nanopores, but yield of reliable and low-noise nanopores in commercially a...

The goal of the European ANGELS project (Anguilliform Robot With Electric Sense) is to build an eel-like robot capable to navigate by the electric sense and to divide itself in several mono agents for exploration purposes. In the context of ANGELS, my work consists in creating a perception model inspired from the electric sh with the virtue of being fast and so, to be usable in-line. The percep...

• Intrinsic self-healing mechanism after contact with water. Multiple healings at the same damaged area. Controlled electrical characteristics. Mechanically resistant and hydrophobic coating. materials have received significant attention due to characteristic recovery damage properties through reversible dynamic covalent non-covalent interactions. Furthermore, functional reliable mechanical are...

Electrospray deposition (ESD) uses strong electric fields to produce generations of monodisperse droplets from solutions and dispersions that are driven toward grounded substrates. When soft materials delivered, the behavior growing film depends on film’s ability dissipate charge, which is strongly tied its mobility for dielectric materials. Accordingly, there exist three regimes electrospray: ...