CAREER: Integrating Magnetism into Noncentrosymmetric Frameworks for Spin-based Electronics

想象一下，智能、紧凑的笔记本电脑有更多的空间来存储游戏、照片和视频，时尚的手机有更快的加载应用程序和更长的电池寿命，强大、无与伦比的计算机可以比现在的计算机更快地解决复杂的问题。虽然这种创新的计算机和存储设备可以通过节能、环保、国家安全和医疗保健来彻底改变我们的生活，但很难释放作为下一代电子架构基础的磁性材料的潜力。该职业奖由NSF材料研究部门的固态和材料化学计划以及刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助，旨在更深入地了解可能承载微小磁体的固态材料的化学功能关系，这些磁体可以以独特的方式扭曲和转动。这些小磁体的扭曲舞蹈可以实现更高的数据存储能力，更快的数据访问和更有效的基于自旋的逻辑器件。 PI和她的团队将专注于一类特殊的磁性化合物，这些化合物在结构上缺乏反转对称性，并研究这些材料中的化学键如何决定它们的物理性质。此外，该CAREER奖项旨在通过设计、改进和传播名为"材料发现冒险"的基于探究的动画，提高学生的STEM能力，并促进固态材料的发展。技术概述拥有拓扑自旋纹理（skyrmions）的非中心对称磁性材料处于量子信息科学和自旋电子学新技术进步的最前沿。这是由于拓扑保护，一种奇怪的状态，其中电子的物理性质对缺陷和噪声环境（如晶格缺陷和室温操作）不敏感。虽然在Skyrmion材料研究方面取得了令人印象深刻的成就，但化学键和电子结构如何引起Skyrmion的出现和有意修饰仍然是一个重大挑战。该CAREER奖的研究目标由NSF材料研究部门的固态和材料化学计划以及刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助，旨在为促进（或阻碍）skyrmions形成的新型非中心对称磁性材料提供一套有效的基本化学性质指南。为了实现这一目标，PI和她的团队采用了结合实验和计算的方法，使用最先进的合成技术，磁性和热容测量，X射线衍射，中子散射和密度泛函理论计算。这个职业奖的教育目标是提高学生的学习和促进量子STEM学科的兴趣。PI和她的团队将设计，完善和传播基于调查的活动，称为材料发现冒险，有五个动画模块（石器时代，青铜时代，铁器时代，硅时代，和量子时代），这将吸引和激发学生和公众对固态材料在解决真实的-这个奖项反映了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，被认为是值得支持的。

Non-technical summaryImagine smart, compact notebooks with more space to store games, photos, and videos, sleek cell phones with quicker-loading apps and longer battery life, and powerful, unparalleled computers that can solve complex problems much faster than today computers. While such innovative computers and memory devices could revolutionize our lives through energy savings, environmental conservation, national security, and healthcare, it is difficult to unlock the potential of magnetic materials that are the basis of the next generation of electronic architectures. This CAREER award, jointly funded by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in NSF’s Division of Materials Research and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), aims to develop a deeper understanding of the chemistry-function relationships of solid-state materials potentially hosting tiny magnets, which can twist and turn in a unique way. The twisty dance of these small magnets could enable higher data storage capabilities, faster data access, and more efficient spin-based logic devices. The PI and her team will focus on a particular class of magnetic compounds that lack inversion symmetry in the structure and study how chemical bonding in these materials determines their physical properties. In addition, this CAREER award seeks to improve student STEM competency and promote solid-state materials through the design, refinement, and dissemination of inquiry-based animation called Adventures in Materials Discovery.Technical summaryNoncentrosymmetric magnetic materials hosting topological spin textures (skyrmions) are at the forefront of new technological advances in quantum information science and spintronics. This is owing to topological protection, a strange state wherein the physical properties of electrons are insensitive to defects and noisy environments such as lattice imperfections and room-temperature operations. While impressive achievements have been made in skyrmion materials research, a significant challenge remains as to how chemical bonding and electronic structures give rise to the emergence and intentional modification of skyrmions. The research goal of this CAREER award, jointly funded by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in NSF’s Division of Materials Research and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), is to provide an efficient set of fundamental chemistry-property guidelines for new noncentrosymmetric magnetic materials that facilitates (or hinders) the formation of skyrmions. To achieve this, the PI and her team adopt combined experimental and computational approaches using state-of-the-art synthetic techniques, magnetic and heat capacity measurements, X-ray diffraction, neutron scattering, and density functional theory calculations. The education goal of this CAREER award is to improve student learning and promote interest in quantum STEM disciplines. The PI and her team will design, refine, and disseminate inquiry-based activities called Adventure in Materials Discovery with five animated modules (Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Silicon Age, and Quantum Age) that will engage and excite students and the public about the impacts of solid-state materials in addressing real-world challenges.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.