Nanoscale study of complex oxide & intemetallic materials

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The past few decades have seen a wealth of novel electron-ordering phenomena discovered in complex oxide and intermetallic materials. These phenomena range from unconventional superconductivity and colossal magnetoresistance to magnetoelectric multiferroism. Recent advances in nanofabrication and nanoprobetechniques, together with progress in cryomagnetic instrumentation, have enabled these materials to be studiedat very short length scales with controlled geometries and under extreme thermodynamic conditions.My proposed research is to apply a combination of nanofabrication, nanoprobe and cryomagnetic techniques on various complex oxides and novel intermetallics. The materials include: the high-Tc superconductors YBa2Cu3O6+x and Tl-doped cuprates; the heavy-fermion superconductors CeCoIn5, PrOs4Sb12, CePt3Si; the colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) compound La0.7Ca0.3MnO3; and the multiferroic compounds BiFeO3, HoMnO3, TbMn2O5.Both epitaxial thin-film and single crystal samples will be studied, as well as nanostructured samples made using laser ablated deposition and electron beam lithography.  This research approach is progressive in that it experimentally extends the study of strongly-correlated electrons in complex materials to crystal-lattice length scales.If successful, the proposed research could enable technological innovations in new forms of electronic devices based on various quantum-ordered phenomena. Such "quantum" devices would have significant applicationpotentials in signal processing, information storage, as well as quantum computing.