CAREER: Engineered Ferroic Superlattices for Science, Technology and Education

非技术描述：本实验项目的重点是开发具有工程电性能和磁性质的新型人工分层材料。利用PI实验室最先进的沉积设备，可以在原子尺度上控制制造材料中堆叠层的厚度。这些层状结构中接口的高度完美使组成材料之间的新相互作用得以产生，其结果是新颖的行为，这可能是许多关键设备应用（如非易失性计算机存储器、传感器、致动器和能量收集器）性能改进的基础。在PI的实验室和布鲁克海文国家实验室的用户设施中，一套尖端的实验工具被用来探测新材料的物理特性，并为它们的优化建立必要的理解。所使用的技术的广度为开展研究的学生提供了长期的培训效益。与研究计划紧密结合的是一项教育推广计划，该计划围绕着一套独特而引人入胜的教学工具包的开发和传播而建立。石溪大学为实现多元化目标做出了具体努力，主要是通过利用石溪大学极其多样化的学生社区和现有的教育推广项目。技术细节：钙钛矿氧化物是人造材料的理想“构建块”，因为在相对相似的晶体结构中，它们具有各种复杂的结构扭曲和相关的功能特性。本项目感兴趣的关键材料要么是铁性的（铁电、铁磁性或铁弹性），要么是多铁性的（在同一材料中表现出两种或两种以上铁性的组合）。最近，在氧化材料中出现了一些惊人的例子，通过仔细控制界面，可以实现与体材料性能明显不同的行为。该研究的核心概念是利用界面相互作用，以及应变和静电，构建具有科学吸引力和技术实用性的新型铁材料。实际上，这涉及到使用离轴射频磁控溅射技术构建由钛酸盐和锰矿钙钛矿氧化物组成的精细周期超晶格。x射线衍射（实验室和同步加速器），原子力显微镜，透射电子显微镜和电气技术，然后用于探索人工材料的基本物理学。特别的重点放在相变和现象有关的领域。项目中使用的各种实验技术为研究生，本科生和高中生团队提供了尖端研究技术和设施的实践经验。该基金由国际科学与工程办公室（OISE）的欧洲和欧亚项目共同资助。

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: This experimental project is focused on the development of new artificially layered materials with engineered electrical and magnetic properties. With the state of the art deposition facilities in the PI's laboratory, the thickness of the stacked layers in the fabricated materials can be controlled on the atomic scale. The high perfection of the interfaces in these layered structures enables new interactions between the constituent materials to arise, and the result is novel behavior that could be the basis for improved performance in a number of crucial device applications, such as non-volatile computer memories, sensors, actuators and energy harvesters. A suite of cutting edge experimental tools, both in the PI's lab and at user facilities at Brookhaven National Laboratory are being used to probe the physics of the new materials, and build the required understanding for their optimization. The breadth of techniques utilized provides a long-term training benefit to the students carrying out the research. Tightly integrated with the research plan is an educational outreach program built around the development and dissemination of a set of unique and engaging teaching kits. Specific efforts are made to target diversity goals, largely by tapping into the extraordinarily diverse student community and existing educational outreach programs at Stony Brook University.TECHNICAL DETAILS: Perovskite oxides are ideal "building blocks" for artificial materials because within relatively similar crystal structures they possess an extraordinary variety of complex structural distortions and associated functional properties. The key materials of interest in this project are either ferroic (ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, or ferroelastic) or multiferroic (exhibiting the combination of two or more ferroic properties in the same material). Recently there have been some astonishing examples in oxide materials in which behavior markedly different from bulk material properties is achieved by careful control of the interfaces. The central concept of the research is to use interfacial interactions, along with strain and electrostatics, to construct new ferroic materials with properties that are scientifically appealing and technologically useful. In practical terms, this involves the construction of fine period superlattices composed of titanate and manganite perovskite oxides using an off-axis RF magnetron sputtering technique. X-ray diffraction (both lab and synchrotron based), atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and electrical techniques are then used to explore the fundamental physics of the artificial materials. Special emphasis is placed on phase transitions and phenomena related to domains. The wide variety of experimental techniques used in the project provides a team of graduate, undergraduate and high school students with hands-on experience with cutting-edge research techniques and facilities.This grant is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE)'s Europe and Eurasia Program.