Functional Oxide Materials Discovery using Extreme Conditions

本提案将探索在高压和其他极端条件下合成电子和自旋电子金属氧化物。具有优异性能的新材料的发现激发了现代化学、物理和材料科学的发展。电子和磁性材料，如超导体、磁电阻、铁质材料和多铁质材料，由于相关电子系统基态的不可预测性，以及它们对化学成分和物理条件的微小变化的频繁敏感性，是一个特别的挑战。尽管存在这些困难，在过去的二十年里，对复杂电子材料的探索已经改变了我们对许多领域的理解，值得注意的是无机材料的例子是；-高tc超导体-层状氧化铜、富勒化物、MgB2和新型RFeAsO材料。-磁响应材料-例如CMR和锰氧化物钙钛矿中的多铁性行为。-量子物质和临界性-从SrTiO3中的量子准电性到石墨烯中的高温量子霍尔效应。这种无机材料具有较大的可压缩性（~100- 400gpa），因此需要高压（HP）才能显著改变其化学、结构和性能。我们项目的总体目标是发现具有有趣和有用的电子性质的新氧化物，包括自旋电子活性。高压合成将得到广泛应用，但高温通量生长和薄膜沉积也将得到应用。新材料将进行结构表征和基本物理性质的探索。更详细的特性描述和应用测试（例如自旋电子器件）将与其他英国和日本团队合作完成。

This proposal will explore the synthesis of electronic and spintronic metal oxides using high pressure and other extreme conditions.The discovery of new materials with outstanding properties motivates much of modern chemistry, physics and materials science. Electronic and magnetic materials e.g. superconductors, magnetoresistors, ferroics and multiferroics are a particular challenge due to the unpredictability of the ground states of correlated electron systems, and their frequent sensitivity to small changes in chemical composition and physical conditions. Despite these difficulties, the exploration of often complex electronic materials has transformed our understanding of many fields in the last two decades, notable inorganic examples being;- High-Tc superconductors - layered copper oxides, fullerides, MgB2, and the new RFeAsO materials.- Magneto-responsive materials - e.g. CMR and multiferroic behaviour in manganese oxide perovskites.- Quantum matter and criticality - ranging from quantum paraelectricity in SrTiO3 to high temperature quantum Hall effects in graphene.Such inorganic materials have large compressibilities (~100-400 GPa), and so high pressures (HP) are needed to change their chemistry, structures and properties significantly. The general aim of our project is to discover new oxides having interesting and useful electronic properties including spintronic activity. High pressure synthesis will be used extensively, but high temperature flux growth and thin film depositions will also be applied. The new materials will be structurally characterized and basic physical properties explored. More detailed characterizations and testing for applications (e.g. in spintronic devices) will be done in collaboration with other UK and Japanese groups.