Materials World Network: Approaches to the Coupling of Dilute Spins in Oxides

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)This Materials World Network Award by the Solid State Materials Chemistry program and the Office of Special Programs in the Division of Materials Research to University of California Santa Barbara will support a collaborative research and education program that is based on exploring the concurrent existence, -- in oxide materials -- of a band gap and ferromagnetic coupling between spins mediated by dilute charge carriers. In contrast to metallic room-temperature ferromagnets, the proposed research will explore the possibility of systematically coupling, through lightly doped charge carriers, dilute spins in wide-band-gap oxides i.e., systems which are far from possessing metallic ground states. In addition to fundamental interest in the problem, such diluted magnetic oxide semiconductors are expected to find uses in numerous applications. The proposed work should also throw light on a number of other problems that are of great current interest across the broad materials community: (a) the paucity of p-type transparent conducting oxides; (b) the use of correlated transition metal oxides in so-called Mottronic devices; and (c) the search for room-temperature multiferroic materials.The participants of this research project are in the Materials, and Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and at the Chemistry Department at the University of Liverpool, in the United Kingdom, and bring related yet complementary skills to address the proposed work in a synergistic manner. Complementary skills are associated with the two PIs employing distinct capabilities for the preparation of functional materials. Measurement capabilities are complementary as well. The specific focus will be on training an international cadre of materials chemists who understand the importance for developing new materials as drivers for new technologies. An exchange of undergraduate and graduate students between Santa Barbara and Liverpool, and the development of modules for K-12 science education -- building on a substantial prior record in the area -- are important aspects of the proposed program. Specifically, experiments and demonstrations will be aimed at inculcating an early appreciation that novel materials are drivers for new technologies.