****NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT**** This award supports experimental nanomagnetism research at a women's liberal arts college with a small co-educational Ph.D. program. Nanomagnetism is a particularly exciting area of research due to its fundamental role in physics as well as its potential technological applications. The development of advanced nanotechnology enables the manipulation of materials at the nanoscale to realize new functionality. The research proposed here is to design, fabricate and study novel magnetic nanodisks with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. This will be accomplished by employing the most advance tools of experimental science: nanofabrication, high-resolution magnetic imaging, time-resolved synchrotron x-ray imaging with high temporal and spatial resolutions, and micromagnetic simulations. This research is expected to provide a new understanding of spin dynamics in nanomagnets, shed light on a variety of fundamental physics topics in nanomagnetism, and widen the scope for dynamical experiments in nanomagnets. This project will also provide undergraduate and graduate students an in-depth research experience and supportive mentoring. In addition, the PI will develop an interdisciplinary nanoscience course and an interactive website to educate the public about the achievements of young women scientists.
This award supports experimental nanomagnetism research at a women's liberal arts college with a small co-educational Ph.D. program. The research proposed here is to study magnetic bubble dynamics in nanodisks with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). The magnetic bubble state, a stable bi-domain configuration existing in nanodisks with PMA, consists of a circular domain wall that separates the nanodisk into two magnetic domains of opposite out-of-plane magnetizations. The nontrivial topological structure in the magnetic bubble is expected to result in novel spin dynamics with potentially new technological applications. To probe the magnetic bubble dynamics, time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy (TR-PEEM) with a 90 ps time resolution and 100 nm spatial resolution will be used. The unique motion of a ground-state magnetic bubble and the switching between the ground and excited states of the bubbles will be investigated. The non-linear spin dynamics in the excited bubble state and current-induced bubble dynamics will also be explored with the intent of developing a magnetic bubble-based spintronic device. This project will also provide undergraduate and graduate students an in-depth research experience and supportive mentoring. In addition, the PI will develop an interdisciplinary nanoscience course and an interactive website to educate the public about the achievements of young women scientists.
