Atomic level study of spintronic interfaces by neutron scattering and advanced electron microscopy

Materials that are conducting for one of the spin channels (e.g. spin up) but insulating for other are named halfmetals (HM) and they are crucial for the burgeoning field of Spintronics. Spintronics is expected to revolutionise the field of data storage and logic, and provide materials platform for quantum computing. HM based heterostructures are one of the most promising systems for future development of the spintronic devices. These potentials are due to the prospect of 100% spin polarisation at the Fermi level. Recent advances in growth of halfmetalic thin films and device fabrication have demonstrated their tremendous potential in achieving high speed and low power data and logic spin based devices [1-3]. The functionality of spintronic devices is crucially dependent on the atomic and spin/electronic structure of the interfaces. Even though this is generally acknowledged, fundamentally the understanding of halfmetalic atomic and spin-electronic structures is poor.

This proposal aims to determine on atomic scale the interface magnetic and electronic properties of Half-Metal/Semiconductor (HM/S), Half-Metal/Metal (HM/M) and Half-Metal/Topological-Insulator (HM/TI) interfaces by combining Polarized Neutron Reflectometry (PNR) and atomic resolution imaging and spectroscopy by Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (STEM/EELS).

This is joint project between ILL at Grenoble (https://www.ill.eu/), the world’s biggest neutron facility centre, and University of York Physics Department (https://www.york.ac.uk/physics/), one of the UK’s centre for Spintronics and Magnetism.

For prospective students, the majority of time ( ~90 %) will be spent at ILL. The position is immediately available, and the ideal start date would be 1 June 2018. Note that this experimental PhD position is open only for UK and EU students, and is fully funded for 3 years.
For further enquires please contact Dr Vlado Lazarov ([Email Address Removed]).