NSF-Europe: US - Italian Collabloration: Theoretical and Experimental Development of New Magneto-Electronic Materials

美国西北大学的实验者和理论家，以及意大利的卡梅里诺大学、L大学、阿奎拉大学和佩鲁贾大学，都参与了这个国家科学基金会欧洲项目的紧密合作。总的焦点是用于自旋电子学应用的室温铁磁半导体。美国的工作人员将制作和表征基于掺锰黄铜矿的MBE异质结构；意大利的工作人员将专注于掺锰的锗。有许多可以用来研究材料的补充仪器。该理论基于第一性原理密度泛函方法，用于准确地预测半导体材料的电子和磁性。教育方面很强，涉及从本科生到本科生的各级学生的参与，以及来自美国和意大利大学的学生的交流。学生和博士后将在当前对凝聚态物理和纳米科学感兴趣的主要主题上接受出色的培训。

This NSF-Europe project involves a strong collaboration between experimentalists and theorists at Northwestern University in the US, and the Universities of Camerino, L,Aquila, and Perugia in Italy. Overall focus is on room temperature ferromagnetic semiconductors for spintronics applications. The US workers will fabricate and characterize MBE heterostructures based on Mn-doped chalcopyrites; Italian workers focus on Mn-doped Ge. There is much complementary instrumentation available to study the materials. Theory is based on first principles density-functional methods that are used to accurately predict both electronic and magnetic properties of the semiconductor materials. The educational aspects are strong, and involve participation of students at all levels from undergraduate up, and with interchanges of students from the US and Italian universities. The students and post-docs will receive excellent training in topics of major current interest in condensed matter physics and nanoscience.