CAREER: Electrons, Phonons, and Magnons in Nanostructures and Novel Materials

非技术摘要：该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助。非常小的物理系统，其中一个或多个维度减少到100纳米以下，通常表现出与较大物体截然不同的行为。 虽然对这种纳米级制度的研究非常活跃，并且已经揭示了新现象和有前途的新技术，但仍有许多尚未探索。该学院早期职业奖的主要研究目标是使用新的和独特的方法来探索纳米系统和新型材料的热性能。这些性质提供了关于系统中的电子、振动和磁激发的有价值的信息，但传统上难以测量。该项目的重点是用于这些测量的新的微米和纳米机械工具，并将允许对这些小系统的行为进行重要的观察，这些小系统可能会影响从不断缩小的计算机芯片中的热管理到新信息存储技术的发展等领域。计划通过三项主要任务将教育与这项工作结合起来：在入门和高级物理课程中继续使用和新开发交互式教学技术，在实验室环境中对学生进行实践教育，以及通过提供密集的实验室夏季短期课程与当地中学教育工作者进行联系。 技术摘要：该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助。该学院早期职业奖的主要研究目标是通过直接测量这些系统的热性能来加深我们对小结构和新型材料中电子，振动和磁激发的理解。在小长度尺度上对物质进行图案化和操纵的持续进步已经导致了基础研究，这些研究揭示了这些微小系统中的电子，振动和磁激发可以表现出与大体积中不同的行为。虽然令人兴奋的制度，其中一个或多个样品尺寸降低到100纳米以下正在积极探索，这些微小系统的热性能的测量仍然具有挑战性。该奖项支持从纳米线阵列到大块单晶的系统的热导率，热功率和比热的测量，这些系统允许对物理学进行新的系统研究，从小结构中的电子-声子相互作用，到小自旋系统中通过磁振子的热传输，到从扩散到弹道声子传输的交叉，到磁相互作用和磁熵的自旋系统制造的纳米磁性元素。 计划通过三项主要任务将教育与这项工作结合起来：在物理学和凝聚态物理学入门课程中继续使用和新开发互动式教学技术，在实验室环境中对学生进行实践教育，以及通过提供关于凝聚态和纳米级物理学的强化实验室夏季短期课程，与当地中学教育工作者进行外联。

NON TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Very small physical systems, where one or more dimension is reduced below 100 nanometers, often show dramatically different behavior than larger objects. Though research into this nanoscale regime is very active and has already revealed new phenomena and promising new technologies, much remains unexplored. The main research goal of this Faculty Early Career Award is to use new and unique methods to explore the thermal properties of nanoscaled systems and novel materials. These properties provide valuable information on the electronic, vibrational and magnetic excitations in a system, but are traditionally difficult to measure. This project focuses on new micro- and nanomachined tools for these measurements, and will allow an important view into the behavior of these small systems that could impact areas from heat management in ever-shrinking computer chips to the development of new information storage technologies. Integration of education with this work is planned via three main tasks: continued use and new development of interactive teaching techniques in both introductory and advanced physics courses, hands-on education of students in the laboratory environment, and outreach to local secondary educators by offering an intensive lab-based summer short course. TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The main research goal of this Faculty Early Career Award is to deepen our understanding of electronic, vibrational, and magnetic excitations in small structures and novel materials by direct measurements of the thermal properties of these systems. Continued advances in the patterning and manipulation of matter at small length scales has lead to fundamental studies that reveal that the electronic, vibrational, and magnetic excitations in these tiny systems can behave much differently than in the bulk. Though the exciting regime where one or more sample dimensions is reduced below $100$ nanometers is being very actively explored, measurements of thermal properties of these tiny systems remain challenging. This award supports measurements of thermal conductivity, thermopower, and specific heat of systems ranging from nanowire arrays to bulk single crystals that allow novel systematic studies of physics ranging from electron-phonon interactions in small structures, to thermal transport via magnons in small spin systems, to the cross-over from diffuse to ballistic phonon transport, to the magnetic interactions and magnetic entropy in spin systems fabricated from nanomagnetic elements. Integration of education with this work is planned via three main tasks: continued use and new development of interactive teaching techniques in both introductory physics and condensed matter physics courses, hands-on education of students in the laboratory environment, and outreach to local secondary educators by offering an intensive lab-based summer short course on condensed matter and nanoscale physics.