| NSF Org: |
DMR Division Of Materials Research |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 10, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | January 29, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1234096 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
John Schlueter
jschluet@nsf.gov (703)292-7766 DMR Division Of Materials Research MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2016 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,600,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,600,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
21 N PARK ST STE 6301 MADISON WI US 53715-1218 (608)262-3822 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1550 Engineering Drive Madison WI US 53706-1609 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | DMR SHORT TERM SUPPORT |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
Technical Description: Complex oxides have been fertile ground for new discoveries, due particularly to their wide-ranging electronic, optical, and magnetic properties. Interfaces between complex oxides and related materials create juxtapositions between different symmetries and ordered states, and it has become clear that these interfaces are new materials in their own right and lead to dramatically different properties from those in bulk. This project focuses on an iterative cooperation between forefront theory and experiment that determines the fundamental principles controlling new physical phenomena at oxide interfaces, uses these principles to design couplings between multiple orders at interfaces to generate new functionalities, and experimentally synthesizes and investigates designed interfacial materials for novel electronic devices. These atomic-scale interfacial materials can lead to, for example, new classes of electric-field controllable electronic and magnetic phenomena, and enable the development of new technologically important devices that exploit these couplings. Using a predictive theory and modeling, and feedback to theory from experiments, the research team aims to design, understand, and synthesize novel oxide hetero-interfaces that have unique properties not presently available.
Non-technical Description: New approaches to the discovery of materials displaying novel properties are critical for the continued scientific progress in condensed matter science and applications. This project addresses this need with a focus on "oxide interfacial materials," those formed at and near the atomically abrupt boundary between two oxygen-based materials, each of which can exhibit a stunning array of phenomena such as magnetism, piezoelectric behavior, superconductivity, and structural ordering. At the interface, interactions between these functionalities give rise to unexplored nanoscale behaviors. These new interfacial materials are some of the most promising in which to realize new phenomena that will challenge our current understanding, and that will develop new electronic device directions to address our society's technology needs. The project brings a broad educational experience to all students, interacting with faculty members of this research team at five universities, working with scientists at National Laboratories and international institutions, and participating in outreach activities. The faculty and graduate students work with secondary school teachers from the US and Puerto Rico to develop classroom material based on their materials genome learning/research experience.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
New approaches to the discovery of materials displaying novel properties are critical for continued scientific advancement and technological development. This project addressed this need with a focus on “multifunctional oxide interfacial materials”, those formed at and near the atomically abrupt boundary between two oxygen-based materials, each of which can exhibit a stunning array of phenomena such as magnetism, piezoelectricity, and superconductivity, just to name a few. The new properties do not emerge from mixing of atoms – the boundaries are as nearly atomically perfect as possible - but from the two different sides of the interface interacting with each other.
This project discovered several new materials behaviors in different systems that arise from the interface, using the DMREF Materials Genome process of iterative feedback between forefront theory and experiment to design, synthesize, and characterize new materials properties. Our new discoveries ranged from nanoscale emergent ferroelectric behavior to the geometric design and synthesis of an oxide polar metal. We set the stage for necessary feedback in the Materials Genome process with yearly workshops of team members and outside collaborators. To seed the next generation of materials research, we hosted secondary school teachers from schools in Puerto Rico for a workshop on communicating important ideas in materials physics to high school students. Teachers learned about aspects of materials design, visited a materials analysis company, and developed several classroom activities that they implemented in their own and other schools.
Our discoveries provide the capacity to revolutionize existing fields and create new subfields. For example, functionalizing oxide interfaces is leading to a new field of research where the interplay between the parent materials results in new properties interesting from the fundamental point of view and also important for device applications.
Last Modified: 06/27/2017
Modified by: Chang-Beom Eom
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