****NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT**** This Faculty Early Career Award funds a project integrating research and education to explore and understand nanometer scale magnetic phenomena in complex materials, such as layered uniaxial magnets. State-of-the-art low temperature magnetic imaging techniques will be used. Nanoscale magnetic imaging provides irreplaceable visual information of novel magnetic materials, which is crucial for scientific understanding and technological application. New materials with enhanced/emergent properties are critical for the advances of modern technology, such as ultra-high density magnetic recording devices, magnetoelectronics and high-efficiency motors and generators. Training of future material scientists is naturally integrated with the proposed research activities. Undergraduate and high school students will be involved in the proposed research via various summer programs at Rutgers. The education component of this proposal will explore a novel feedback mechanism developed at Rutgers to enhance effective teaching of physics to non-science majors. Future and current high school teachers will be exposed to contemporary material research activities proposed in this project via the Teacher Education Program at Rutgers University so that modern material science and technology can reach out to high school education.
The goal of this CAREER project is to explore and understand novel nanoscale magnetic phenomena in complex materials, such as layered uniaxial magnets. Low temperature nanoscale magnetic imaging techniques, including both magnetic force microscopy and spin polarized-scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy will be used to investigate magnetic domain structure, domain irreversibility and atomic scale domain walls. The research is expected to establish a microscopic understanding of magnetic hysteresis phenomena in layered materials with a large uniaxial anisotropy. Nanoscale magnetic imaging provides irreplaceable real space information of novel magnetic materials, which is crucial for scientific understanding and technological applications of nanoscale magnetism. New materials with enhanced/emergent properties are critical for the advances of modern technology. Training of future material scientists is naturally integrated to the proposed research activities. Undergraduate and high school students will be involved in the proposed research via various existing summer programs at Rutgers. The education component of this proposal will explore a novel feedback mechanism developed at Rutgers to enhance effective teaching of physics to non-science majors. Future and current high school teachers will be exposed to contemporary material research activities via the Teacher Education Program at Rutgers University so that modern material science and technology can reach out to high school education.
