Engineering Papers⌕ Search
Home/Archive/DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI · 3394830

Dynamic asymmetric strain imprinted into substrates by an oxide thin film

Kisiel, Elliot [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000171755820)·Pofelski, Alexandre [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000246539197)·Salev, Pavel [University of Denver, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000211719219)·Qiu, Erbin [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000174469248)·Reisbick, Spencer [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000278824152)·Liu, Chuhang [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000171624708)·Glatz, Andreas [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000220073851)·Poudyal, Ishwor [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)]·He, Wei [Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.] (ORCID:0000000270267304)·Basak, Rourav [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000316098316)·Yay, Kaan Alp [Stanford University, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science (SIMES)] (ORCID:0000000240786613)·Li, Junjie [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)]·Patel, Umeshkumar [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)]·Zhang, Zhan [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000276186134)·Last, Arndt [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany)] (ORCID:0000000306589664)·Zhu, Yimei [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000216387217)·Schuller, Ivan K. [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000290787120)·Islam, Zahir [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000274959762)·Frano, Alex [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:000000019316129X)
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

In film-substrate systems, the substrate role is often considered to be limited to providing static mechanical constraints. Dynamic film-substrate interactions when a structural change in the film modifies the substrate are generally disregarded. Here, using combined x-ray and electron microscopies, we observed that an electrically induced filament in a vanadium dioxide film created strong asymmetric strain in an underlying sapphire substrate. This asymmetric substrate strain fed back into the film and defined the filament expansion direction, revealing the importance of film-substrate dynamic interactions in determining film functionality. Furthermore, the strain imprint propagated at least tens of micrometers deep into the substrate, exceeding the film thickness by more than 200-fold, potentially enabling substrate functionalization as an active mechanical coupling media in three-dimensional integrated microelectronic architectures.

Explore related subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Kisiel, Elliot [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000171755820), Pofelski, Alexandre [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000246539197), Salev, Pavel [University of Denver, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000211719219), Qiu, Erbin [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000174469248), Reisbick, Spencer [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000278824152), Liu, Chuhang [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000171624708), Glatz, Andreas [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000220073851), Poudyal, Ishwor [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)], He, Wei [Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.] (ORCID:0000000270267304), Basak, Rourav [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000316098316), Yay, Kaan Alp [Stanford University, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science (SIMES)] (ORCID:0000000240786613), Li, Junjie [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)], Patel, Umeshkumar [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)], Zhang, Zhan [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000276186134), Last, Arndt [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany)] (ORCID:0000000306589664), Zhu, Yimei [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000216387217), Schuller, Ivan K. [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000290787120), Islam, Zahir [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000274959762), Frano, Alex [University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:000000019316129X). 2026-07-23. Dynamic asymmetric strain imprinted into substrates by an oxide thin film. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adt9347

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

Discover connections

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY subject

Connections use source metadata and explicit phrase matches, not verified experimental comparisons.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related reports

DOE OSTI2026

Atomistic Mechanisms of Stress-Dependent Molten Salt Corrosion in NiCr Alloys

Ni-based structural alloys in molten salt environments often experience simultaneous mechanical loading and corrosive attack, yet the mechanisms governing stress-corrosion interactions remain unclear. Prior studies largely emphasize tensile stress, while the role of compressive stress has received limited attention. Here, reactive molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate the coupled effects of applied strain and corrosion in Ni 0.75 Cr 0.25 exposed to molten FLiNaK at 800 °C. A Σ5(210) grain boundary model is subjected to tensile (+4%) to compressive (−4%) uniaxial strains, and corrosion behavior is evaluated through fluorine adsorption, charge redistribution, and grain boundary evolution. Tensile strain accelerates intergranular corrosion susceptibility by reducing local atomic packing through elastic dilation and increasing excess free volume at the grain boundary, which enhances atomic mobility and salt infiltration. In contrast, compressive strain can suppress corrosion by promoting the formation of a ridge-like surface layer along the grain boundary, limiting salt access to the underlying alloy. These results provide atomistic insight into how stress states influence grain boundary corrosion in molten salts.

36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Imaging a terahertz superfluid plasmon in a two-dimensional superconductor

The superconducting gap defines the fundamental energy scale for the emergence of dissipationless transport and collective phenomena in a superconductor. In layered high-temperature cuprate superconductors, in which the Cooper pairs are confined to weakly coupled two-dimensional (2D) copper–oxygen (CuO 2 ) planes, terahertz (THz) spectroscopy at subgap millielectronvolt (meV) energies has provided crucial insights into the collective superfluid response perpendicular to the superconducting layers. However, within the CuO 2 planes, the collective superfluid response manifests as plasmonic charge oscillations at energies far exceeding the superconducting gap, obscured by strong dissipation. Here, in this study, we present spectroscopic evidence of a below-gap, 2D superfluid plasmon in few-layer Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+x and spatially resolve its deeply subdiffractive THz electrodynamics. By placing the superconductor in the near field of a spintronic THz emitter, we reveal this distinct resonance—absent in bulk samples and observed only in the superconducting phase—and determine its plasmonic nature by mapping the geometric anisotropy and dispersion. Crucially, these measurements offer a direct view of the momentum-dependent and frequency-dependent superconducting transition in two dimensions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

Equation of state for Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, and Au to multi-terapascal pressures from density-functional theory

We present the zero-temperature equation of state (pressure dependence of compression) and phase stability predictions for the 5d-transition metals obtained from all-electron density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results compare favorably with experiments but extend beyond current experimental capabilities to 10 TPa. Our study reveals phase changes that are explained from the calculated electronic structure. The cubic face-centered and body-centered structures (fcc and bcc), together with two-, three-, and four-layered hexagonal structures, play major roles under compression. The results’ dependence on the electron exchange and correlation in the DFT approach is investigated, and it is shown that the impact of the choice, while significant at lower pressures, diminishes in the terapascal regime. We further illustrate that the normal parabolic trends in atomic volume and bulk modulus with atomic number, due to the occupation of bonding and anti-bonding 5d states, break down at TPa pressures, suggesting drastically different chemical bonding at these extreme conditions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗