NEWSROOM

A UCLA-led team has extended a quantum phenomenon called the commensurate charge density wave in tantalum disulfide from cryogenic temperatures to roughly 135 F by interleaving layers of the amino acid arginine between ultrathin sheets. Two other amino acids failed to produce the effect, and simulations suggest arginine fits the crystal lattice almost perfectly. The work points to molecule-guided design of quantum materials and possible energy-efficient memory.

Straining the kagome metal CsV3Sb5 along a single crystallographic axis has revealed two competing superconducting states that are nearly degenerate under ambient conditions. Nuclear quadrupole resonance measurements showed that tensile strain raised the transition temperature from 3.0 K to 3.6 K while leaving charge density wave order essentially intact, decoupling the two phenomena.