Yale University's Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP) is a Materials Research, Science, and Engineering Center funded by the National Science Foundation. The Center is a multidisciplinary collaboration among 23 faculty members across 8 departments. CRISP specializes in the synthesis and characterization of thin film materials with atomic precision and impacts high performance electronics, surface chemistry, lasers, biological materials, and science education.

Together with the guest Editor Professor John Tully, Advanced Materials presents a Special Issue on Yale’s Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena. The broad selection of articles on surface science, interfaces, metal oxides, biomimetics, data storage, or transistors represents both traditional topics at CRISP, such as complex oxide interfaces, as well as more recent uptakes, such as research into the optics of amorphous nanostructures.

The inside cover presents recent progress in scanning probe technology, which has led to the establishment of three-dimensional atomic force microscopy with picometer resolution.






A newly established interdisciplinary team at CRISP focuses on optics of amorphous nanostructures, inspired by the striking colors of the feathers of certain birds. This colorful science is featured on the frontispiece of the Special Issue. Many species of birds produce brilliant noniridescent colors by light scattering from nanostructures rather than by conventional absorption through pigments.


Find out more and enjoy the broad scope of this Special Issue!

Adv. Mater. ; DOI: 10.1002/adma.v22:26/27