"Impurities, Defects, and Interfaces in Bulk and Nanoscale Condensed Matter (Meta)Materials"

我提出的研究的一个主要目标是了解从杂质/缺陷到界面失配的“不完美”如何显著改变块状和纳米级(元)材料的电子、磁性和光学性质。这些研究是科学的、有趣的，也具有相当大的实际意义，因为不完美是不可避免的，理解它们将使我们能够利用它们来操纵宿主的行为，用于技术应用。与此相关，我提出的研究的一个子集是研究“界面现象”的深度相关性，即材料表面附近或埋藏界面附近的性质的演变。A(元)材料的所有电子、磁性和结构性质都在两种材料之间的界面附近发生改变。这些变化可以仅限于界面附近的几个纳米，或者宿主属性可以在许多微米范围内改变。我们计划使用极少的一些方法来探索这些现象作为深度的函数，即低能β探测到的核磁共振和Muon自旋旋转/弛豫。此外，我建议的研究的一部分继续调查具有新的磁性但其潜在机制尚未完全理解的系统中的局部磁性。因此，我们的总体目标是：(I)提供关于缺陷和界面如何控制与实际应用相关的现有或新材料的性质的新的实验信息，以及(Ii)测试对材料中有趣现象的理论预测，这些材料到目前为止还没有被接受的理解。

One main objective of my proposed research is to learn how "imperfections", ranging from impurities/defects to interfacial mismatch, can dramatically modify the electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of bulk and nanoscale (meta)materials. These studies are scientific interesting and also of considerable practical relevance since imperfections are inevitable and understanding them will enable us to use them to manipulate the behavior of the host for technological applications. Related to this, one subset of my proposed research is to study the depth-dependence of "interfacial phenomena", i.e. the evolution of properties near the surface of a material or in the vicinity of a buried interface. All electronic, magnetic and structural properties of a (meta)materials are altered near the interface between two materials. These changes can be confined to only a few nanometers near the interface, or the host properties can be changed over many micrometers. We plan to use some of the very few methods that can probe these phenomena as a function of depth, namely low energy beta-detected nuclear magnetic resonance and muon spin rotation/relaxation. In addition, part of my proposed research continues to investigate the local magnetism in systems with novel magnetic properties but for which the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Hence, our general goals are: (i) provide novel experimental information on how imperfections and interfaces control the properties of existing or new materials that are relevant for practical applications, and (ii) test theoretical predictions of interesting phenomena in materials where there is thus far no accepted understanding.