Abstract
Out-of-equilibrium phenomena are attracting high interest in physics, materials science, chemistry and life sciences. In this state, the study of structural fluctuations at different length scales in time and space are necessary to achieve significant advances in the understanding of the structure-functionality relationship. The visualization of patterns arising from spatiotemporal fluctuations is nowadays possible thanks to new advances in X-ray instrumentation development that combine high-resolution both in space and in time. We present novel experimental approaches using high brilliance synchrotron radiation sources, fast detectors and focusing optics, joint with advanced data analysis based on automated statistical, mathematical and imaging processing tools. This approach has been used to investigate structural fluctuations in out-of-equilibrium systems in the novel field of inhomogeneous quantum complex matter at the crossing point of technology, physics and biology. In particular, we discuss how nanoscale complexity controls the emergence of high-temperature superconductivity (HTS), myelin functionality and formation of hybrid organic-inorganic supramolecular assembly. The emergent complex geometries, opening novel venues to quantum technology and to the development of quantum physics of living systems, are discussed.
Highlights
IntroductionThe structural fluctuations at the nanoscale and mesoscale play a fundamental role in the functionality of complex materials [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]
It is accepted that the interplay of defects, charge, spin and orbitals play a fundamental role in copper-oxide-based superconductors, belonging to the wide family of quantum complex materials [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]
The multiscale structural conformations due to the dynamic distribution of mobile oxygen interstitial ions (O-i) have been studied by X-ray synchrotron diffraction
Summary
The structural fluctuations at the nanoscale and mesoscale play a fundamental role in the functionality of complex materials [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]. Standard momentum-space probes such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and neutron scattering are excellent for characterizing the “average” order and coherent excitations, they are highly ambiguous when different phases coexist and evolve in space and time. To overcome this limitation, local probes such as X-ray spectroscopy and pair distribution function analysis from high resolution X-ray and neutron diffraction have been used to probe local fluctuations and disorder in complex materials showing nanoscale phase separation [23,24,25,26,27,28]. Scanning nano-probes with synchrotron radiation are a hot topic in the investigation of structural fluctuations in biological systems [61,62,63,64]
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