Latest news
- Kathy McCreary and Adrian Swartz utilize spin transport to provide the most convincing evidence to date for defect-induced magnetism in graphene.
- Adrian Swartz pioneers the growth of ferromagnetic insulator EuO on graphene.
- Jared Wong discovers electric field control of the Verwey transition in magnetite.
An integrated approach
We emphasize strong integration of experimental techniques to enable unique cutting-edge research and broad training for graduate students.
Materials
Atom-by-atom deposition by molecular beam epitaxy and chemical vapor depositionOptics
Magneto-optics, ultrafast optics, and microscopy for probing spin and magnetization dynamicsDevices
Electron beam lithography and magneto-transport measurements for the fabrication and testing nanoscale spin transport devicesElectron spin and magnetism exhibit fascinating phenomena in nanomaterials and nanostructures, where the length scales span the short-range of quantum mechanical exchange interactions (angstroms) to the longer-range of electron spin diffusion (microns). By controlling these systems with atomic scale precision, we are able to probe the spin-dependent interactions, generate new properties, and systematically investigate the microscopic physics. This basic research is connected to the technologies of electronics beyond silicon, high density magnetic storage, and novel computing paradigms.
We investigate a variety of materials with unique properties:
Graphene is the first gate-tunable material to exhibit spin transport at room temperature. Thus, it is a leading candidate for spin-based computing applications. In addition, the extreme surface sensitivity allows for the exploration of novel phenomena in doped and hybrid structures.
Multifunctional Oxide Heterostructures provide the opportunity to couple order parameters such as magnetization (ferromagnetism), polarization (ferroelectricity), and conductivity (metal-to-insulator) and to control their properties by magnetic, optical, strain, and electric fields.
Semiconductors possess the property of long spin lifetime and well-defined spin orbit coupling. Direct gap semiconductors provide a model system to directly measure the electron spin coherence and spin-dependent interactions through pump-probe optical measurements.