Translational Applications of Nanoscale Multiferroic Systems (TANMS) has three primary goals. The first goal is to transition the unique discoveries that the TANMS team has made on nanoscale multiferroic materials, i.e. control of magnetic spin structures with electric fields, into three applications: memory devices, miniaturized antenna systems, and nanoscale motors. The second goal is to uncover fundamentally new understandings of the physics governing the unique intrinsic coupling present in multiferroic materials at the nanoscale. This is accomplished through a combination of novel multi-scale modeling efforts and innovative multiferroic material development/testing processes. The third major goal is to develop an inclusive educational environment to guide the next generation of engineers through engineering research, project management, and entrepreneurial endeavors. The first two goals address a barrier that prevents further miniaturization of electronic devices. Eliminating this barrier has a significant impact on our society's reliance on conventional magnetic generation systems that are intrinsically energy inefficient in the small scale. TANMS premise is that electric field induced magnetic spin reorientation present in nanoscale multiferroics overcomes this efficiency problem and produces a wide range of miniaturization opportunities previously considered implausible. For the third goal, T ANMS focuses on transforming the engineering educational system by integrating students and teachers at all levels to promote diversity, participate in transitional research, and engender the notion that engineering and business careers are closely intertwined.
Intellectual Merit: For the last several decades engineering has made significant progress toward miniaturizing electromagnetic devices, e.g. cell phones, computers, and wireless communication devices. However, the field is quickly reaching an impasse to further miniaturization mainly due to a reliance on inefficient electrical currents to produce and control magnetism in the small scale. TANMS seeks to establish a radically different approach relying on intrinsic magnetic property manipulation, i.e. magnetic spin reorientation, in a multiferroic. If properly designed, this magnetoelectric coupling is extremely large in the small scale where exchange coupling tightly binds adjacent atomic level spins creating single magnetic domains. The introduction of this new approach into applications for electromagnetic control provides a revolutionary advancement dramatically different from inefficient current based methods used in a wide range of electromagnetic devices including memory, antennas, and motors.
Broader Impact: A major goal of the Center is to construct an environment which provides an educational pathway from cradle to career by relying on the unique I 0-year time horizon provided by an ERC. This is achieved through two synergistic programs, one during the academic school year and the other during the summer months, to introduce k-12 apd undergraduate students to engineering research and business opportunities throughout their educational career. Major consideration is also given to developing a heterogeneous workforce, representative of the national population, to overcome historical paradigms in engineering that limit diversity. T ANMS members strongly believe that students with diverse backgrounds have not been adequately educated regarding the benefits of being an engineer. While our society continues to glorify athletes and celebrities, the wealth of fulfilling opportunities available to engineers is not sufficiently articulated. TANMS strives to achieve this by establishing a new approach intertwining engineering research with business entrepreneurial endeavors.
