Magneto-eletric coupling in composite multiferroics

This award supports theoretical and experimental research in condensed matter physics. The work is aimed to discovering new type of materials for nanoelectronics, called "artificial nanosolids". Such nanosolids are small particles, embedded in an insulating material, with sizes ranging from a few to hundreds of nanometers (a nanometer is approximately one million the size of the human hair). Particularly, in this research we investigate magnetic nanograins combined with ferroelectric insulators, producing so-called ?composite multiferroic? materials. Magnetic grains in composite multiferroics interact with each other and with ferroelectric matrix leading to the appearance of novel physical phenomena useful for various microelectronic applications, such as new computer memory elements, nano-antennas and emitters, nanomotors and etc. The theoretical and experimental studies to be carried out will provide fundamental understanding of the behavior of composite multiferroic materials, the way to control and manipulate them by external electric and magnetic fields, by varying the size, composition, and coupling strength between nanometer-scale building blocks. Combination of theoretical and experimental methods in this project brings it to the interface between physics, materials science, and nanoscience. Results of the work will provide the basis for implementation of multiferroic nanocomposites in novel microelectronic devices.