Mechanical Control of Quantum Transport in Graphene.

2D materials (2DMs) are fundamentally electro-mechanical systems. Their environment unavoidably strains them and modifies their quantum transport properties. For instance, a simple uniaxial strain can completely turn off the conductance of ballistic graphene or switch on/off the superconducting phase of magic-angle bilayer graphene. This article reports measurements of quantum transport in strained graphene transistors which agree quantitatively with models based on mechanically-induced gauge potentials. A scalar potential is mechanically induced in situ to modify graphene's work function by up to 25 meV. Mechanically generated vector potentials suppress the ballistic conductance of graphene by up to 30% and control its quantum interferences. The data are measured with a custom experimental platform able to precisely tune both the mechanics and electrostatics of suspended graphene transistors at low-temperature over a broad range of strain (up to 2.6%). This work opens many opportunities to harness quantitative strain effects in 2DM quantum transport and technologies.

Comparison of Three Devices to Measure Pressure for Acute Compartment Syndrome.

INTRODUCTION: Acute compartment syndrome (ACS) is a well-recognized and common emergency. Undiagnosed ACS leads to muscle necrosis, limb contracture, intractable pain, and may even result in amputation. METHODS: Three devices (Synthes, Stryker, and MY01) were compared in a pre-clinical rat abdominal compartment syndrome simulation. Simultaneous measurements of intracompartmental pressures allowed concurrent comparison among all devices. RESULTS: Large variations from the reference values are seen with the Synthes and Stryker devices. Variances are large in these two devices even under ideal conditions. The MY01 device was the truest indicator of reference pressure in this ACS model (over 600% more accurate). CONCLUSIONS: The MY01 device was the most accurate device in tracking pressure changes in this rat model of abdominal compartment syndrome.

Tailoring 10 nm scale suspended graphene junctions and quantum dots.

The possibility to make 10 nm scale, and low-disorder, suspended graphene devices would open up many possibilities to study and make use of strongly coupled quantum electronics, quantum mechanics, and optics. We present a versatile method, based on the electromigration of gold-on-graphene bow-tie bridges, to fabricate low-disorder suspended graphene junctions and quantum dots with lengths ranging from 6 nm up to 55 nm. We control the length of the junctions, and shape of their gold contacts by adjusting the power at which the electromigration process is allowed to avalanche. Using carefully engineered gold contacts and a nonuniform downward electrostatic force, we can controllably tear the width of suspended graphene channels from over 100 nm down to 27 nm. We demonstrate that this lateral confinement creates high-quality suspended quantum dots. This fabrication method could be extended to other two-dimensional materials.