Jian Liu
University of Tennessee-Knoxville, TN·Physics·Early-career
Future computer memory, processors and sensors could be built from atom-thin magnetic layers. Antiferromagnets are especially attractive: their neighboring atomic magnets point in opposite directions, so they produce no stray magnetic field.
- Fields
Physics
Materials Science
- Topics
quantum magnetism
antiferromagnet
two-dimensional magnetism
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Grow atomically thin iridium oxide layers by in-situ-monitored pulsed-laser deposition, designed so that spin-orbit coupling tilts the spins while overall spin symmetry is kept.
- Tune layer thickness, distortion, composition and strain to bring these two-dimensional antiferromagnets close to the spin-isotropic limit, where responses to external fields should be very large.
- Use synchrotron x-ray scattering and spectroscopy to detect two-dimensional critical fluctuations near quantum phase transitions and to show external control of antiferromagnetic order.
More about the research
However, they barely respond to an applied magnetic field, which makes them hard to control. Real materials are also three-dimensional, so true two-dimensional magnetism is difficult to achieve. This project aims to build oxide layers atom by atom so that they act as two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets that external fields can still steer.
Why it matters
Controllable two-dimensional antiferromagnets could become building blocks for smaller, faster and more secure memory, processors and sensors. Learning how to design such layers atom by atom could help materials and electronics researchers create new quantum magnetic materials. The work also deepens understanding of quantum many-body physics.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jie Li
University of Michigan, MI·Earth & Environmental Science
Synthesize Ruddlesden-Popper iridates (Srn+1IrnO3n+1) under high pressure and temperature, with chemical doping, to search for exotic magnetism, Mott insulating states and possible superconductivity, guided by Dynamic Mean Field Theory.
Christian Binek
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE·Physics
Engineer interfaces in oxide and van der Waals layered stacks to control magnetic and electric order, defects and spin textures, aiming at memristive devices and neuromorphic, brain-inspired computing.
Joseph Sklenar
Wayne State University, MI·Physics
Synthesize synthetic antiferromagnets by sputter deposition, varying the number of ferromagnetic layers and the non-magnetic spacer material, to excite magnons (spin waves) and create magnon-magnon interactions.
The school
University of Tennessee-Knoxville: 16 labs on PI Pages, $387M a year on research, 426 research doctorates a year.
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