We show that chiral symmetry can be broken spontaneously in one-component systems with isotropic interactions, i.e., many-particle systems having maximal a priori symmetry. This is achieved by designing isotropic potentials that lead to self-assembly of chiral surfaces. We demonstrate the principle on a simple chiral lattice and on a more complex lattice with chiral supercells. In addition, we show that the complex lattice has interesting melting behavior with multiple morphologically distinct phases that we argue can be qualitatively predicted from the design of the interaction.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.165502 | DOI Listing |
Science
January 2025
Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
Axions, hypothetical elementary particles that remain undetectable in nature, can arise as quasiparticles in three-dimensional crystals known as axion insulators. Previous implementations of axion insulators have largely been limited to two-dimensional systems, leaving their topological properties in three dimensions unexplored in experiment. Here, we realize an axion insulator in a three-dimensional photonic crystal and probe its topological properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Power Sources, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Chiral plasmonic nanomaterials with fascinating physical and chemical properties show emerging chirality-dependent applications in photonics, catalysis, and sensing. The capability to precisely manipulate the plasmonic chirality in a broad spectral range plays a crucial role in enabling the applications of chiral nanomaterials in diverse and complex scenarios; however, it remains a challenge yet to be addressed. Here we demonstrate a strategy to significantly enhance the tunability of circular dichroism (CD) spectra of chiral nanomaterials by constructing core-shell hybrid metal-semiconductor structures with tailored shells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChem Sci
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Centre for Atomic Engineering of Advanced Materials, Key Laboratory of Structure and Functional Regulation of Hybrid Materials of Ministry of Education, Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Chemistry for Inorganic/Organic Hybrid Functionalized Materials, Anhui University Hefei Anhui 230601 China
Controlling symmetrical or asymmetrical growth has allowed a series of novel nanomaterials with prominent physicochemical properties to be produced. However, precise and continuous size growth based on a preserved template has long been a challenging pursuit, yet little has been achieved in terms of manipulation at the atomic level. Here, a correlated silver cluster series has been established, enabling atomically precise manipulation of symmetrical and asymmetrical surface structure expansions of metal nanoclusters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Chem
January 2025
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Atomically precise nanoclusters can be assembled into ordered superlattices with unique electronic, magnetic, optical and catalytic properties. The co-crystallization of nanoclusters with functional organic molecules provides opportunities to access an even wider range of structures and properties, but can be challenging to control synthetically. Here we introduce a supramolecular approach to direct the assembly of atomically precise silver nanoclusters into a series of nanocluster‒organic ionic co-crystals with tunable structures and properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Mater
January 2025
School of Physics and Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
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