Condensed Matter Seminar: Hybrid Oxides

Abstract: 

Recently, strongly-correlated transition metal oxides, that exhibit first order metal-insulator transitions, have received renewed attention because they can be controlled and manipulated at the nanoscale to develop unique properties. Although the existence of these materials has been known for some time, the physical origin of many of these phenomena remains a very controversial issue.  

In addition, hybrid heterostructures allow the engineering of new material properties by creative uses of proximity effects. When two dissimilar materials are in close physical proximity the properties of each one may be radically modified or occasionally a completely new material emerges. By properly designing hybrid ferromagnet/oxides new magnetic properties arise unlike any known magnetic materials.

I will describe the static and dynamical properties of strongly correlated nanostructured oxides, which exhibit metal-insulator transitions. These materials when reduced to the nanoscale exhibit interesting properties such as avalanches, unique response to disorder and critical slowing down in their fast time dependence.   In a series of recent studies, we have investigated the magnetic properties of different hybrids of ferromagnets (Ni, Co and Fe) and oxides, which undergo metal-insulator and structural phase transitions. Both the static as well as dynamical properties of the ferromagnets are drastically affected. Static properties such as the coercivity, anisotropy and magnetization and dynamical properties are clearly modified by the proximity effect and give raise to interesting perhaps useful properties. 

Event Organizer: Prof. Eli Eisenberg