PIRE The Spin Triangle - Athens, Ohio; Hamburg, Germany; and Buenos Aires, Argentina: Advancing Nanospintronics and Nanomagnetism

Ohio University, Athens OH

Investigators

Abstract

Smith 0730257 PIRE The Spin Triangle - Athens, Ohio; Hamburg, Germany; and Buenos Aires, Argentina: Advancing Nanospintronics and Nanomagnetism In this Partnerships for International Research and Education award, Ohio University will develop a 3-way international collaboration involving the Nanoscale and Quantum Phenomena Institute at Ohio University; the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Hamburg in Germany; and the condensed matter theory research groups at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and Centro Atomico Constituyentes Buenos Aires in Argentina. They will form a focused, integrated, and complementary collaboration to lead nanoscale spintronics research on the global stage. The U.S. team will collaborate with the scanning probe methods group in Hamburg specializing in spin-polarized scanning probe microscopy, led by Professor Roland Wiesendanger, and with the condensed matter theory group in Buenos Aires specializing in ab-initio calculations, led by Professors Ana Maria Llois, Andrea Barral, and Mariana Weissmann. This award will help to train the next generation of globally engaged scientists and engineers, as approximately ten physics undergraduate students, ten physics graduate students, and four postdoctoral researchers will be funded to conduct research abroad with the German and Argentinean partners over the five-year course of the award. Ohio University will develop an Undergraduate Certificate in International Nanoscience Research and a Graduate Certificate in International Nanoscience Research to document the training that these students will receive. In addition, the project will also involve ten science journalism students, who will each perform one-year internships in which they will gain unique international science exposure. The project overall is designed to broaden students' perspectives through an active international collaboration that includes both experiment and theory. Nanospintronics and nanomagnetism promise to revolutionize the electronics/computer industry. Smaller yet more powerful and energy efficient electronic devices are expected to be fabricated by exploiting electron spin in the near future. To achieve this, one must understand the fundamental science underlying spintronics at the nanoscale. Thus, the ultimate scientific goal of the project is to control and manipulate the electron spin for novel device functionalities as well as to achieve fundamental understanding. To this end, one needs to understand how electron spin is distributed or screened in extended systems, how spins are transported, and subsequently how spin can be controlled and manipulated. Direct imaging of spins at the atomic limit using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy is one of the first steps toward control, manipulation, and engineering of spintronic structures. The molecular beam epitaxy technique allows 'natural' engineering of various spintronic structures from 2D extended layers (atomic sheets) to the formation of localized 2D islands, 1D (chains), and 0D (dot) nanostructures. On the other hand, atom/molecule manipulation using scanning tunneling microscopy allows 'controlled' engineering (including shape, size, and composition) of spintronic nanostructures. The combination of these techniques will thus provide a powerful experimental approach to spintronic nanostructure fabrication and investigation. This project receives support from NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering and Division of Materials Research.