Multiferroics are promising materials because of their potential applications for spintronics (data storage, etc.) and novel multifunctional devices. Devices based on these materials have many important features, such as high speed, low power consumption, and multi-functionality, and could facilitate device miniaturization impacting daily life. The project will contribute to the understanding of the new physical phenomena and fundamental science in nanostructured multiferroics. The project involves underrepresented graduate and undergraduate students (e.g., Hispanics and/or women). The PI designs new courses, disseminates new findings through presentations at conferences and publication in scientific journals, and organizes a workshop on multifunctional nanomaterials involving the participation of graduate students.
research goal of this project is to understand the magnetodielectric coupling in nanostructured multiferroics, which is important for the realization of novel spintronic and multifunctional devices. The mechanisms and dynamics of magnetodielectric coupling and the origin of the fundamental excitation in multiferroics are not yet well understood. The project aims at a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms and dynamics of magnetodielectric coupling in nanostructured multiferroics, the factors that affect it, and the approaches to control and enhance the properties. These nanostructures include nanograin polycrystalline single phase thin films, nanoscale epitaxial thin films, and artificially engineered multiferroics using ferromagnetic/ ferroelectric epitaxial heterostructures. The specific tasks are to (i) study the magnetodielectric coupling in nanocomposite and polycrystalline thin films; (ii) explore the effect of strain, reduced dimensionality, and interface effect on magnetodielectric coupling in epitaxial thin films and artificially engineered ferroelectric/ferromagnetic multilayer heterostructures; (iii) examine the effect of temperature, frequency, and electromagnetic field on magnetodielectric coupling. These nanostructured multiferroics are grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and analyzed by several state-of-the-art characterization techniques.
