Electromagnetism & Spintronics

The BINA Electromagnetism researchers study novel magnetic phenomena and develop advanced spintronic devices using magnetic nanoparticles, magnetic thin films, and heterostructures. They study the interplay of magnetism and superconductivity and explore the emergence of magnetic phenomena in strongly correlated materials and at various interfaces. The researchers use nanofabrication facilities to develop novel magnetic sensors and memory devices with immense potential impact on vital technologies. A significant effort of the researchers is related to medicine, where attempts are made to develop devices and procedures that harness magnetism for diagnosis and treatment.

 

  • Magnetism and superconductivity
  • Electronic systems
  • Granular & thin films
  • Magnetic nanomaterials
  • Manganites
  • Single-molecule and single-photon spectroscopy
  • Meso- and nano-systems
  • Spintronics

  

 

Researchers

  • Nano-scale crystallization phenomena

    Our group is developing approaches that utilize nano-scale systems for studies of crystallization phenomena and mechanisms that determine the morphologies of crystals. Insight from this research can lead to very useful technological applications, as understanding crystal growth mechanisms will allow us to better control crystalline products of chemical synthesis. This view is inspired by treating nano-crystals as “embryonic” stages of crystal growth. In a sense, every crystal begins its evolution as a nano-crystal. The huge advantage in studies that follow this perspective is in our ability to utilize extremely powerful electron microscopy methods, including a novel technique that allows us to perform high resolution electron microscopy directly in liquid solutions. In this way we can retrieve details of the crystal structure and overall shape at remarkable resolution, during the crystal’s initial formation. These details are often hidden in bulk crystals, unidentifiable by X-ray crystallography, yet critical for understanding of the mechanisms by which crystals grow.

  • Electronic properties of low dimensional systems

    We study the electric properties of different nanosystems in which the electrons feel a random potential and exhibit unique quantum behavior

    • Thin film growth: Thermal evaporation, e-beam evaporation UHV techniques and quench- condensation methods.
    • Advanced Lithography: Electron beam nano-lithography and Photo-lithography, ion milling, reactive ion milling, chemical etching and other processing techniques applicable to sub-micron electronics.
    • Microscopy: Scanning and transmission electron microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).
    • Low Temperature: Cryogenic measurement techniques, low noise measurements, dc and ac (lock-in) techniques, high field magneto-transport measurements.

  • The Lab for Quantum Imaging

    The lab is focused on using quantum sensors for imaging various physical properties at the nanoscale. The two main sensors are a sensor for electric potentials based on carbon nanotubes and a sensor for magnetic fields based on Nitrogen Vacancies (NV) in diamonds. Those sensors have a unique combination of small dimensions and extremely high sensitivity,
    allowing us to use them for sensing minute fields at the nanoscale. The current projects focus on combining these two unique sensors to overcome many of the limitations of each system. For example, read the NV center’s quantum state using a charge detector made of a carbon nanotube. A second example is using the NV center for probing the electron state on the carbon nanotube with quantum coherence. These projects will pave the way for a quantum imaging technique that probes the quantum nature of a system at the nanoscale.

  • Sensitive magnetic imaging

    Sensitive magnetic imaging reveals stripy current flow at the interface between two oxides, which is related to the structure of strontium titanate

    • Superconductivity
    • Nano-magnetism
    • Bio-magnetism
    • Scanning SQUID microscopy
    • Complex oxid interfaces
    • Nano-electronics

  • Multi-level magnetic memory

    The cover page of Applied Physics Letters presenting a picture of structures in the form of N magnetic crossing ellipse that support 22N discrete magnetic states.

    • Magneto-transport in thin magnetic films (particularly ruthenates and manganites)
    • Anisotropic magnetoresistance and giant planar Hall effect
    • Current induced manipulation of domain walls
    • Macroscopic quantum tunneling
    • Transport properties of LAO/STO interfaces
    • Magnetic sensors and memory

  • Nano-optics and Light–matter interactions in metamaterials

     Examples of optically resonant nanostructures comprising single nanoparticles, thin film and full metasurface arrays

    • Light-matter interactions
    • Nanophotonics
    • Metamaterials
    • Plasmonics
    • IR nanospectroscopy
    • 2D materials

  • Graphene Composites for Sensor Applications

    • Graphene Electronics
    • Two Dimensional Semiconductors
  • Broadband Quantum Optics

    • Optical bandwidth as a resource for quantum information: Novel schemes for quantum measurement and sources of broadband squeezed light
    • Sub shot-noise interferometry and coherent Raman spectroscopy (quantum CARS) using broadband squeezed light.
    • Visualization and manipulation of fast vibrational dynamics in molecules with optical frequency combs
    • The physics of mode-locked lasers: new sources of ultrashort pulses and frequency combs

  • Phase transitions on the nano-scale

     

    • Spintronics
    • New Temperature Coefficient of Resistance (TCR) materials
    • Organic/SC hybrid
  • Raman scattering spectra in irradiated graphene

    Electro Magnetism & Spintronics

    Experimental studies of transport phenomena and electronic properties of disordered solids:
    • doped semiconductors
    • impure metals
    • conducting polymers
    • hopping conductivity
    • magnetoresistance
    • metal-insulator transition
    • electron-electron interactions

  • Mesoscopic Physics

     

    • Semiconductor Physics
    • Quantum information
    • Superconducting circuits
    • Hybrid Quantum Systems
  • Voltage Nanosensors for brain research

    Electrophysiological optical recording from a single targeted post-synaptic GABA receptors

    • Single molecule detection and spectroscopy,
    • Dynamic structural/molecular biology,
    • Protein folding, protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions,
    • Novel Bio-Nano-Technology probes, semiconductor nanocrystals, quantum dots, semiconductor nanocrystals voltage
    sensors
    • Fluorescence microscopy/spectroscopy,
    super resolution microscopy
    • Mesoscopic systems

  • Fundamental physics & Applied Physics

    Electro Magnetism & Spintronics

    • Condensed matter physics
    • Magnetism
    • Superconductivity