Magnetism and Magneto-Optics of Novel Nanoscaled Materials

本研究项目旨在促进我们对新型纳米材料中磁性和磁光现象的理解。要研究的结构类型包括纳米晶和亚稳相化合物和合金，以及新型多层和颗粒纳米复合体系。将特别关注这些材料的薄膜合成，通过外延稳定纳米级晶体结构，而不是以块体形式存在，并通过快速的热处理方法。该计划的一个重要重点是对这些新材料的粒子间或颗粒间相互作用，相变和矫顽力行为，电子结构和磁光性质的基本理解。薄膜磁性能的合成和控制在现代科学和社会中起着极其重要的作用。其中一个重要的方面是我们在纳米尺度（1纳米相当于大约4个原子直径）人工构造新材料的能力不断增强，并将这些材料制造成具有十年前几乎无法想象的性能和应用的设备。对纳米级磁性薄膜的兴趣很大一部分是由信息存储和磁电子器件激发的。近几十年来，计算机硬盘驱动器中的信息密度一直在以每10年大约10倍的速度增长，最近这一速度还在增加。这一进展取决于对纳米结构磁性材料的理解和控制方面的重大进展，这也是本研究的主题。＊＊＊

w:\awards\awards96\*.doc 9623992 Sellmyer This research program is directed towards advancing our understanding of magnetism and magneto-optic phenomena in novel nanoscaled materials. The types of structures to be studied include nanocrystalline and metastable-phase compounds and alloys, and novel multilayer and particulate nanocomposite systems. Special attention will be paid to the thin-film synthesis of these materials by epitaxial stabilization of nanoscaled crystal structures which do not exist in bulk form, and by rapid thermal-processing methods. A significant emphasis of this program is on fundamental understanding of the inter- particle or inter-grain interactions, phase-transition and coercivity behavior, and electronic structure and magneto-optical properties of these novel materials. %%% The synthesis and control of the magnetic properties of thin films play an extremely important role in modern science and society. A significant aspect of this is our growing ability to artificially structure novel materials at the nanometer scale (1 nanometer equals about four atomic diameters) and to fabricate such materials into devices with properties and applications which were hardly imagined only a decade ago. A large part of the interest in nanoscaled magnetic films is stimulated by information storage and magnetoelectronic devices. In recent decades the information density in computer hard disk drives has been increasing at the rate of about a factor of 10 every 10 years and recently the rate has increased. This progress is dependent on major advances in understanding and control of nanostructured magnetic materials, which is the subject of this research. ***