RUI: Structural, Morphological and Magnetic Characterization of Exchange Coupled Structures

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9970789CelinskiThis is a combined experiment and theory project which an area of major interest in magnetic multilayers. Layered magnetic materials are of great current interest in part because of their applications in magnetic storage devices, and in part because of fundamental questions about the relation between the structure of the thin layers and their magnetic properties. The project focuses on the influence of interface morphology on the magnetic properties of the composite structure. This is a complex problem because there are many different types of interfaces and the structural interface properties may be quite different from the magnetic interface properties. The research will investigate the magnetic and structural properties of Fe/Pd/Fe and Fe/Ag/Fe multilayers. These can be grown with a variety of well-characterized interfaces, and depending on growth conditions can exhibit terrace widths varying from a few nanometers to a micron. A key measurement tool is the use of ferromagnetic resonance to determine magnetic interface quality through measurements of the linewidth. An important application of the results will be to correlate magnetic and structural interface quality with the size of the giant magnetoresistance in the layered materials. This research will be carried out at a primarily undergraduate institution. Students participating in the project receive excellent training with state of the art instrumentation, which prepares them for careers in industry or for continued research at the graduate school level.%%%The research project will be conducted at a primarily undergraduate institution and involves the synergist collaboration between an experimentalist and a theorist. The principle investigators will study magnetic metal multilayers which the giant magneto resistance effect (GMR) now commercially employed in computer hard drives. The objective is to learn how the structural morphology of the metal multilayers influences their magnetic properties. Students participating in the project receive excellent training with state of the art instrumentation, which prepares them for careers in industry or for continued research at the graduate school level.***