RUI: Growth and Optical Properties of Multiferroic Thin Films

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Non-technical Abstract:This award from the Division of Materials Research to Buffalo State College supports experimental research on a new class of materials which exhibit ferroelectric and ferromagnetic behavior. The principal investigator and undergraduate students prepare thin films using an electron-beam deposition method and study the thin film growth parameters to improve the quality and the physical properties of the materials. The research focuses on improving the quality of thin films and understanding the role of lattice strains and external stimuli on the physical properties of multiferroic thin films. The project support 6 to 9 summer research students with a substantial fraction of students coming from underrepresented minorities (24%) and women (60%). The research provides the students with a valuable research experience that they would not otherwise gain in the classroom setting.Technical Abstract: This award from the Division of Materials Research supports experimental research on the multiferroic RFe2O4 (R = Y, Dy to Lu) family of compounds with geometrically frustrated structures. The project studies the role of the growth conditions, lattice strains, annealing, oxygen stoichiometry, and impurities on the physical and multiferroic properties of polycrystalline and epitaxial RFe2O4 thin films deposited by a reactive electron-beam deposition method. The principal investigator and undergraduate students at Buffalo State College investigate the optical and dielectric properties, spin-charge-lattice couplings, and structure-property relationship in the RFe2O4 thin films using optical and dielectric spectroscopy. The objective is to offer new insight into the magnetoelectric coupling of RFe2O4. In particular, the research focuses on improving the quality of thin films and understanding the role of lattice strains and external stimuli on the physical properties of multiferroic thin films. The results will be important to advancing the multiferroic thin film research. The project supports 6 to 9 summer research students with a substantial fraction of students coming from underrepresented minorities and women. The research provides the students with a valuable research experience and will also prepare them for jobs and the graduate studies.