Electronic & Magnetic Materials & Devices

The Center for Nanoscale Mamterials will use the principles of nanoscience and nanotechnology to achieve unprecedented control of electronic and magnetic behavior. The goals are to create ultrastrong permanent magnets for energy-efficient motors, advanced information storage and processing prototype devices, advanced medical therapy and biomagnetic sensing concepts, and related nonvolatile and reconfigurable device architectures. Techniques include novel synthesis and processing routes such as hierarchical assembly using bottom-up polymeric and bio-templating, core-shell colloidal nanoparticle synthesis, and lithographically assisted patterning of hybrid structures that exhibit novel behavior. The emphasis is on controlled synthesis of compositionally complex metal and oxide nanostructures, understanding spin and charge transport, magneto-optic and ultrafast dynamical response in laterally confined, low-dimensional systems, integration of nanostructured components into functional prototypes, and local characterization of electronic and magnetic properties coupled to structural and chemical characterizations.

Activities

• Size-selected clusters and cluster based electronic and magnetic materials
• Molecular beam studies of emergent magnetic and electronic behavior in bare and ligated clusters
• High-resolution patterning and self-assembly of metallic, oxide, and semiconductor systems
• Proximity effects in multilayered and laterally confined electronic, magnetic, and superconducting nanohybrids
• Impact of nanostructuring on highly correlated electron and atom systems and condensates, including quantum critical behavior
• Diamond-based electronics and thermoelectric devices
• Spatial and temporal multiscale theory and modeling of electronic and magnetic behavior in nanoconfined systems
• In situ nanofocused X-ray scattering, spectroscopy and imaging studies of magnetic, ferroelectric, strain, charge and orbital-ordering behavior
• Exploring novel spintronic concepts and phenomena
• Nanoferroelectric materials and devices
• Novel nanohybrid materials and devices (soft-hard ferromagnetic and exchange bias structures, superconducting-ferromagnetic hybrids, multiferroic systems, biotemplated and functionalized electromagnetic materials)
• Novel field-effect systems and devices
• Spin-based and related quantum computing materials and concepts