Highlights

PARADIM Highlight #121 reports a collaborative study of La3Ni2O7 thin films under epitaxial strain, showing in-plane compression induces superconductivity. Using multislice electron ptychography, XRD, and STEM, researchers link Ni–O bond-angle distortions and symmetry lifting to cuprate-like Fermiology, hinting at new paths and improved superconducting transitions.

PARADIM Highlight #119 reports LiTi2O4 superconductivity revealing an unconventional polaronic ground state from multimodal studies (ARPES, RIXS, probes, DFT). Strong electron-electron and electron-phonon coupling coexist, challenging conventional BCS. Demonstrates correlated phenomena in half-valence spinels and showcases PARADIM’s MBE+ARPES platform.

David A. Muller’s work combines a highly sensitive, high-dynamic-range electron-microscope pixel-array detector (EMPAD) with ptychography and multislice algorithms, achieving the world’s highest resolution microscope. PARADIM contributed throughout, with detectors and training; the 0.2 Å images approach atomic-vibration limits. Muller was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2026.

PARADIM researchers engineered strain-tuned BaTiO3 thin films to stabilize a metastable monoclinic phase with exceptional cryogenic electro-optic response. They measured 2516 ± 100 pm/V at 5 K, 100× higher as temperature drops, using adsorption-controlled growth and high-temperature MBE. This enables large, low-field beam steering for quantum applications; patent filed.

PARADIM’s In-House Team developed MINT, an ab initio framework for mismatched layered materials, revealing that apparent doping in misfit rock-salt/TMD structures arises from intra-layer electron rearrangement, not net interlayer charge transfer. Theory agrees with ARPES; framework enables first-principles study of superconductivity, transport, and thermoelectric properties in incommensurate systems.

PARADIM Highlight #113 reports ambient-pressure superconductivity in compressively strained La2PrNi2O7 thin films, achieved via Pr substitution, growth optimization, and ozone annealing. Onset above 48 K with zero resistance above 30 K; high critical current. Atomic-resolution EM reveals film-substrate interface details, defects, and oxygen’s key role.

PARADIM In-House researchers study La3Ni2O7 under pressure, where superconductivity above 80 K raises questions about common high-Tc mechanisms. Using resonant soft x-ray scattering and polarimetry on thin films, they find a unidirectional diagonal spin-stripe SDW in the NiO2 plane, with in-plane moments and no strong charge disproportionation.

UC Berkeley researchers show V1/3NbS2 can crystallize into two ordered intercalant superlattices (ABAB and ABC) with distinct magnetism and electronics. One is metallic with altermagnetism; the other semimetallic noncollinear antiferromagnet with potential topological properties. This enables tunable magnetic/electronic states for spintronics and topological devices.

PARADIM researchers (Guchhait, Howard Univ.) explored Cr-Te layered phases CrTe2–Cr3Te4, synthesizing compositionally precise Cr2+xTe4 crystals to study magnetic properties. They found Cr2Te3 exhibits a large, anisotropic magnetocaloric effect at 170 K; thin films show ordering near 280 K, promising room-temperature magnetocaloric devices. CVT growth enabled precise interstitial ordering.

PARADIM's In-House team reports superconductivity with onset up to 11 K in high-crystallinity, undoped NdNiO2 thin films. Superconductivity appears when residual resistivity drops below the NiO2 sheet quantum resistance, suggesting intrinsic, clean-limit behavior akin to cuprates. Apical oxygens could also contribute; film quality is key.