Gamma-ray detection and spectroscopy is the quantitative determination of their energy spectra, and is of critical value and critically important in diverse technological and scientific fields. Here we report an improved melt growth method for cesium lead bromide and a special detector design with asymmetrical metal electrode configuration that leads to a high performance at room temperature. As-grown centimeter-sized crystals possess extremely low impurity levels (below 10 p.p.m. for total 69 elements) and detectors achieve 3.9% energy resolution for 122 keV 57Co gamma-ray and 3.8% for 662 keV 137Cs gamma-ray. Cesium lead bromide is unique among all gamma-ray detection materials in that its hole transport properties are responsible for the high performance. The superior mobility-lifetime product for holes (1.34 × 10−3 cm2 V−1) derives mainly from the record long hole carrier lifetime (over 25 μs). The easily scalable crystal growth and high-energy resolution, highlight cesium lead bromide as an exceptional next generation material for room temperature radiation detection.

The optical response of semiconducting monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) is dominated by strongly bound excitons that are stable even at room temperature. However, substrate-related effects such as screening and disorder in currently available specimens mask many anticipated physical phenomena and limit device applications of TMDCs. Here, we demonstrate that that these undesirable effects are strongly suppressed in suspended devices. Extremely robust (photogain > 1,000) and fast (response time < 1 ms) photoresponse allow us to study, for the first time, the formation, binding energies, and dissociation mechanisms of excitons in TMDCs through photocurrent spectroscopy. By analyzing the spectral positions of peaks in the photocurrent and by comparing them with first-principles calculations, we obtain binding energies, band gaps and spin-orbit splitting in monolayer TMDCs. For monolayer MoS2, in particular, we obtain an extremely large binding energy for band-edge excitons, Ebind ≥ 570 meV. Along with band-edge excitons, we observe excitons associated with a van Hove singularity of rather unique nature. The analysis of the source-drain voltage dependence of photocurrent spectra reveals exciton dissociation and photoconversion mechanisms in TMDCs.

In the pursuit of ultrasmall electronic components, monolayer electronic devices have recently been fabricated using transition-metal dichalcogenides. Monolayers of these materials are semiconducting, but nanowires with stoichiometry MX (M = Mo or W, X = S or Se) have been predicted to be metallic. Such nanowires have been chemically synthesized. However, the controlled connection of individual nanowires to monolayers, an important step in creating a two-dimensional integrated circuit, has so far remained elusive. In this work, by steering a focused electron beam, we directly fabricate MX nanowires that are less than a nanometre in width and Y junctions that connect designated points within a transition-metal dichalcogenide monolayer. In situ electrical measurements demonstrate that these nanowires are metallic, so they may serve as interconnects in future flexible nanocircuits fabricated entirely from the same monolayer. Sequential atom-resolved Z-contrast images reveal that the nanowires rotate and flex continuously under momentum transfer from the electron beam, while maintaining their structural integrity. They therefore exhibit self-adaptive connections to the monolayer from which they are sculpted. We find that the nanowires remain conductive while undergoing severe mechanical deformations, thus showing promise for mechanically robust flexible electronics. Density functional theory calculations further confirm the metallicity of the nanowires and account for their beam-induced mechanical behaviour. These results show that direct patterning of one-dimensional conducting nanowires in two-dimensional semiconducting materials with nanometre precision is possible using electron-beam-based techniques.

We have reported the structural, thermal, microscopic, magnetization, polarization, and dielectric properties of BiFeO 3 ceramics synthesized by a rapid liquid-phase sintering technique. Optimum conditions for the synthesis of single-phase BiFeO 3 ceramics were obtained. Temperature-dependent magnetization and hysteresis loops indicate antiferromagnetic behavior in BiFeO 3 at room temperature. Although saturated ferroelectric hysteresis loops were observed in single-phase BiFeO 3 ceramic synthesized at 880°C, the reduced polarization is found to be due to the high loss and low dielectric permittivity of the ceramic, which is caused by higher leakage current.

Europium-doped strontium and barium iodide are found to be readily growable by the Bridgman method and to produce high scintillation light yields. Sr12(Eu) emits into the Eu2+ band, centered at 435 nm, with a decay time of 1.2 ps and a light yield of -90 000 photons/MeV. It offers energy resolution better than 4% full width at half maximum at 662 keV, and exhibits excellent light yield proportionality. BaIz(Eu) produces >30 000 photons/MeV into the Eu2+ band at 420 nm (< 1 ps decay). An additional broad impurity-mediated recombination band is present at 550 nm (>3 ps decay), unless high-purity feedstock is used.