![]() 'To make a magnetic field you need a big coil of wire carrying a current. And so all of the existing magnetism technologies that we have - for example information storage - which currently rely on magnetic fields, could be controlled electrically. 'From a technology point of view it’s also appealing because if one can combine both the properties then, in principle, one can use an electric field to control the magnetic properties. What can you do with these so-called multiferroics? 'And also, could we think of an entirely new mechanism for making a ferroelectric or ferromagnetic, where we could use good electrical atoms and make them be magnetic by a different mechanism, or good magnetic atoms and make them be ferroelectric by some unconventional mechanism? And that also has led to some new interesting materials with both properties.' Could you combine elements that are good for electrical properties with elements that are good for magnetic properties? We first pursued that direction and there are now some successful multiferroics designed using that approach. 'Then, of course, we had to think about how could one design a material with both properties together. It comes down to the detailed arrangement of the electrons in the atom. The kinds of elements that make good magnetic materials are a different set from the kinds of elements that make good ferroelectric materials. 'It turns out it’s really simple, it’s chemistry. ![]() Is there some fundamental physics reason why you can’t have a ferroelectric magnet, or is it just that nature got unlucky? ![]() These tend to not coexist - and that in itself is a very interesting research question. ![]() 'What’s interesting and challenging is to make materials that combine magnetism and ferroelectricity. You’re working on making materials that are magnetic (ferromagnetic) and also have a so-called electric dipole moment, whereby they have both a positive and a negative charge (ferroelectric). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |