Highlights of research in the magnetic materials group


An Electronic Dance of Spins and Orbits

December 9, 2010

Materials with significant spin-orbit interactions are currently an area of intense research. A study carried out on beamline 4-ID-D indicates how an Iridium-containing oxide material displays such coupling, making it a potential candidate for novel spintronic applications.

Local Contact: Daniel Haskel

Probing Spin Liquids with a New Pulsed-Magnet System

August 26, 2010

Pulsed magnetic fields have recently been used on beamline 4-ID-D to study magnetoelastic effects in the rare-earth pyrochlore terbium titanate spin-liquid compound. A change is structural symmetry is observed for fields above 25 Tesla.

Local Contacts: Zahir Islam and Jacob Ruff

A Colossal Magnetic Effect under Pressure

June 12, 2009

Researchers using beamline 4-ID-D are are using high-pressure XMCD to delve into the forces behind colossal magnetoresistance, which is up to a thousand times more powerful than GMR and could trigger another revolution in computing technology.

Local Contacts: Daniel Haskel & Yang Ding

A New Spin on Inducing Chirality in Pre-biological Molecules

October 23, 2008

Researchers using beamline 4-ID-C have demonstrated that a previously unconsidered mechanism can play a role in chiral-selective chemistry: namely low-energy spin-polarized secondary electrons, produced by irradiation of a magnetic substrate.

Local Contact: Richard Rosenberg

Different Roads Toward Quantum Criticality

October 17, 2007

The study of magnetic phase diagrams is essential to understanding the organizing principles of correlated electrons, as well as understanding the way in which physical parameters determine material properties.

Local Contact: Yejun Feng

Logic Tells Us that Appearances May Be Deceptive

September 24, 2007

Nanostructured magnetic rings have been under intese study for potential computer-memory applications. The cover story of the 24 September 2007 issue of Applied Physics Letters describes research performed on beamline 4-ID-C that provides new insights into how multilayer ring structures could be used in such device applications.

Local Contacts: John Freeland & Volker Rose

Giant Magnetocaloric Materials Could Have Large Impact on the Environment

June 15, 2007

Climate change caused by polutants is a concern in need of solutions, research at beamline 4-ID-D may help reduce the levels of environmentally damaging hydrofluorocarbons in our atmosphere.

Local Contact: Daniel Haskel

At the Boundary between Superconducting and Magnetic Oxides

April 12, 2006

The transistor, which shaped so much of our modern technology, grew out of scientists’ desire to gain a greater understanding of the interfaces between different materials. In the same way, today’s materials scientists seek to expand our understanding of complex oxides by creating new states at the interface of two materials.

Local Contact: John Freeland

Defect-Driven Magnetism in Mn-doped GaN

December 12, 2005

Semiconductors doped with magnetic elements are candidates as room-temperature magnetic semiconductors with potential use as new low-power-consumption electronics, non-volatile memories, and field-configurable logic devices. Research at the beamline 4-ID-C Advanced Photon Source is producing new and important information about Mn-doped GaN.

Nanoskins on Layered Manganites

July 20, 2005

Researchers using beamline 4-ID-C have successfully demonstrated how an insulating nanoskin in contact with a completely ferromagnetic metallic layer can be naturally created. In their Nature Materials paper, these researchers note that situating a well-defined surface insulator atop a fully spin-polarized bulk demonstrates that two of the most demanding components of an ideal magnetic tunnel junction can self-assemble naturally.

Stretching a boring material can lead to new functionality

September 30, 2010

The oxide compound europium titanate is pretty boring on its own. Research on beamlines 4-ID-C and 6-ID, however, show that this compound takes on remarkable new properties when its confined to nanometer films and properly stretched through growth on an appropriate substrate material.

Local Contacts: John Freeland and Phil Ryan

Searching for Next-Generation Electronic Materials

December 14, 2009

A new class of layered oxide materials discovered thanks to research at the beamline 6-ID-B offers scientists unprecedented opportunities for creating the next generation of electronic devices.

Local Contact: Phil Ryan

Chromium

Using High Pressure to Reveal Quantum Criticality in an Elemental Antiferromagnet

May 21, 2009

High pressure scattering measurements on beamline 4-ID-D are a milestone in the study of emergent magnetism and quantum criticality. These studies open new possibilities for probing fundamental magnetism and technologically important correlated electron materials.

Local Contact: Yejun Feng

Increasing Magnetic Response of Ferromagnetic Semiconductors under High Pressure

February 16, 2009

Scientists using beamline 4-ID-D have manipulated electron mobility and pinpointed the mechanism controlling the strength of magnetic interactions in europium oxide and, hence, the material's magnetic ordering temperature.

Local Contact: Daniel Haskel

Oldest Known Magnets Secrets Revealed Under High Pressures

February 1, 2008

Researchers using beamlines 4-ID-D and 16-ID at the Argonne Advanced Photon Source have uncovered new information about the coupling between magnetic and electrical properties of this venerable and highly useful material magnetite.

Local Contacts: Daniel Haskel & Yang Ding

Orbital Reconstruction at a Complex Oxide Interface

October 15, 2007

A current problem of intense interest to the condensed matter physics community is the behavior of systems with strongly interacting electrons. Researchers using beamline 4-ID-C have gained important new insights into this phenomenon.

Local Contact: John Freeland

Getting to the Core of Luminesent Nanowires

June 18, 2007

Researchers using beamline 4-IDC have determined what is responsible for the luminescence exhibited by one-dimensional nanostructures that have great potential for optoelectronic devices such as blue-light lasers for next-generation optical storage media.

Local Contact: Richard Rosenberg

Tailoring the Properties of Magnetic Nanostructures

May 23, 2007

Studies carried out at beamline 4-ID-C show that subtle variations in shape can tailor the properties of magnetic nanostructures that could be used for new high-speed electronic devices.

Local Contact: David Keavney

What's in the Cage Matters in Iron Antimonide Thermoelectric Materials

March 29, 2007

Iron antimonide materials have drawn intense interest because they offer a pollution-free source of electricity and a vibration free source of refrigeration. Research at beamline 4-ID-D examined how the magnetism of cage-filler lanthanides may influence the thermoelectric properties of these materials.

Local Contact: Daniel Haskel

Into the Vortex: Dynamics in Nanoscale Materials

February 20, 2006

Nanosized magnets are of great interest for their potential applications in new electronic devices. Researchers using beamline 4-ID-C have made some surprising discoveries about the behavior of these materials that may lead to a greater understanding of materials on the nanoscale.

Local Contact: David Keavney


Posted by: Becky Gagnon ( gagnon@aps.anl.gov)
Content by: Jonathan Lang ( lang@aps.anl.gov)