Jan 25 2016
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A magnetic state in a few atomic laters of artificially synthesized materials, known as transitional metal oxides, has been developed by researchers from the University of Arkansas and their colleagues.
The study results are published in the January 21st issue of the online journal, Nature Communications.
The key to the next generation of electronics is fabricating transistors that are multifunctional, meaning that a single electric pulse should be able to trigger multiple actions. For example, they can transition between electronic and magnetic states. This work opens the door to devices based on junctions of correlated electronic materials beyond our current semiconductor devices.
Jak Chakhalian, Professor of Physics, University of Arkansas
The research was carried out at the University of Arkansas and Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, by postdoctoral physicist Yanwei Cao. He used a few atomic layers of a transition metal oxide consisting of nickel, titanium and lanthanum to produce the magnetic state.
The research team comprised University of Arkansas postdoctoral research associates Michael Kareev and Srimanta Middey, doctoral student Xiaoran Liu and recent doctoral graduate Derek Meyers, now at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Debashish Chowdhury at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India; and John W. Freeland, Phillip Ryan and Jong-Woo Kim of the Advanced Photon Source, were also part of the study.
In 2014 Chakhalian was chosen as a quantum materials investigator for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation with a $1.8 million grant. He used a part of the grant for this research work.