Collaborative Research: DMREF: Accelerated Discovery of Artificial Multiferroics with Enhanced Magnetoelectric Coupling

非技术描述：开发新材料为技术创新奠定基础。当一种材料与另一种材料集成时，新的特性和功能可以出现在所产生的异质结构中。然而，构建模块的选择是一个挑战，最好通过结合计算方法，材料合成和广泛的表征方法的协作方法来解决。这项研究将解决一个长期存在的材料科学挑战：如何创造多铁性材料，结合联合收割机远程电和磁秩序。人工多铁性材料由层状磁性二维（2D）材料与铁电二维或氧化物材料组成。因为电有序（铁电）层和磁有序（例如，铁磁）层在原子上是平坦的，两者之间增强的耦合可用于通过电气控制有效地切换磁序。这些新材料可以导致技术创新，例如，存储器设备是紧凑和节能的。鉴于2D材料的大量可能选择，基于机器学习的数据挖掘将在本研究中领导新的多铁性异质结构的合成和表征的实验工作。 多铁性材料是同时表现出长程电序和磁序的材料。电极化和磁极化之间的耦合，即，磁电（ME）效应，可用于开发基于电压控制磁的低功率纳米电子学。这项研究将加速发现一种新型的人工多铁性与增强磁电耦合的二维（2D）货车德瓦尔斯（vdW）磁铁集成vdW或氧化物铁电体。单相材料中的ME效应通常很弱，因为铁电性和磁性来自不同的电子轨道。另一方面，合成复合材料中的ME耦合仅发生在材料间边界处，具有小的界面/体积比和有限的材料选择。在由磁性VDW层和铁电VDW或氧化物材料组成的异质结构中可以实现显著增强的ME效应的假设将推动这种综合研究活动。随着大量已建立的2D磁性和铁电材料，异质结构的可能组合可以达到10，000到100，000的数量级。因此，以计算为主导的方法对于加速发现具有增强ME效应的最佳人工多铁性材料至关重要。在本计画中，将借由材料合成与特性化实验来验证新多重铁性异质结构的预测。除了研究工作，该奖项将支持研究生和本科生的培训和教育，作为下一代科学和工程劳动力。该项目还将为社交媒体开发内容和帖子，介绍多铁性量子材料的概念和发展，以吸引公众参与。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical Description: Developing new materials lays the foundation for technology innovations. When one material is integrated with another, new properties and functionalities can emerge in the resulting heterostructure. The choice of building blocks, however, is a challenge that is best addressed with a collaborative approach combining computational methods, material synthesis, and a broad range of characterization methods. This research will tackle a long-standing material science challenge: how to create multiferroics materials that combine long-range electric and magnetic orders. Artificial multiferroics consisting of layered magnetic two-dimensional (2D) materials interfaced with ferroelectric 2D or oxides materials will be investigated. Because the interface between the electrically ordered (ferroelectric) layer and magnetically ordered (e.g., ferromagnetic) layer is atomically flat, an enhanced coupling between the two can be used to effectively switch the magnetic order via the electrical control. These new materials can lead to technological innovations, e.g., memory devices that are compact and power-saving. Given the large number of possible choices of 2D materials, machine-learning based data mining will lead the experimental effort in synthesis and characterization of new multiferroic heterostructures in this research. Technical Description: Multiferroics are materials that simultaneously exhibit long-range electric and magnetic orders. The coupling between the electrical and magnetic polarizations, i.e., the magnetoelectric (ME) effect, can be exploited to develop low-power nanoelectronics based on voltage-control of magnetism. This research will accelerate the discovery of a new type of artificial multiferroics with enhanced magnetoelectric coupling by integrating two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) magnets with vdW or oxide ferroelectrics. The ME effect in single-phase materials is typically weak because ferroelectricity and magnetism come from different electronic orbitals. ME coupling in synthesized composites, on the other hand, occurs exclusively at inter-materials boundaries, with small interface/bulk ratios and limited material choices. The hypothesis that a significantly enhanced ME effect can be achieved in heterostructures composed of a magnetic vdW layer and a ferroelectric vdW or oxide material will drive this integrated research activity. With a large number of established 2D magnetic and ferroelectric materials, the possible combinations of heterostructures can reach an order of 10,000 to 100,000. A computation-led approach is thus critical to accelerate the discovery of optimal artificial multiferroics with an enhanced ME effect. In this project, the predictions of new multiferroic heterostructures will be validated by materials synthesis and characterization experiments. In addition to the research efforts, this award will support the training and education of graduate and undergraduate students as the next-generation scientific and engineering workforce. This project will also develop contents and posts for social media to introduce concepts and developments of multiferroic quantum materials to engage the general public.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.