"A Non-Quiescent Ocean" by Mitchell Chandler

Beneath the surface, water movement in the ocean is more complex and variable than one may imagine

Depicted is how the movement of water across a shipping line between Japan and Hawaii in the North Pacific Ocean changes over time. Red represents water flowing northward and blue represents water flowing southward. The darker the color, the more water that is crossing the shipping line. The time period shown spans from 2004 to 2019.

Mitchell Chandler is a graduate student associated with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

To watch Mitchell's 2022 UC San Diego Grad Slam preliminaries submission, "The arteries and veins of our ocean," go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypyz2wVxun4

"Disease Detection Inspired by Butterfly Photonics" by Loren Phillips

The properties of butterfly wings may help us understand how to better diagnose cancer

This image contains an arrangement of various images taken through a microscope. There is no color correction or grading, the color you see was captured under the microscope. The rainbow-like kaleidoscope pattern is created with dozens of images of butterfly wings as seen through a microscope through a Berek compensator. The central image is a tissue sample containing breast cancer. The colored squares are nanofabricated metasurfaces.

Loren Phillips is an undergraduate student associated with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC San Diego.

"Perovskite Crystals with a Gradient Composition" by Sheng Xu

Perovskite crystals with outstanding electron transport properties for next generation solar cells

Due to their remarkable charged carrier dynamics, hybrid halide perovskites (HHPs) have tremendous potential for the next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices. My group demonstrated chemical epitaxial growth of single crystal HHP thin films for the first time. We have also been able to create an unprecedented compositional gradient by continuously tuning the growth precursor composition. This compositional gradient generates a bandgap gradient along the thickness direction, which is necessary for efficient sunlight absorption and facilitates the dissociation and collection of carriers.

Sheng Xu is an associate professor associated with the Departments of Nanoengineering, Bioengineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC San Diego.

Contributor: Yusheng Lei