Nanoschaalafbeelding van magnetische structuren met behulp van scanning-transmissie-elektronenmicroscopie (NanoMagSTEM).

Modern society relies on materials which exhibits or are influenced by magnetic fields, such as functional materials used in electronic devices. In the last decades the performance of such devices have been greatly improved though miniaturization, however at some point the size of the these devices cannot be reduced further due to physical limits. To continue the advances in electronics, new materials with novel properties must be utilized. This requires a deep insight into the coupling between structural and functional properties, with nanometre resolution. An understanding of how the magnetic microstructure at the nanoscale is affected by the atomic and electronic structure of materials will help researchers in the design of functional materials with tailored-made properties. The hypothesis of this proposal is that "Magnetic fields in functional materials can be characterized at nanometre length scales by using scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with fast pixelated detectors. This enables correlated characterization of both functional and structural properties and improved understanding of materials." With the recent development of fast pixelated electron detectors, the whole electron beam in a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) can be imaged. This enables imaging of magnetic fields in materials using differential phase contrast (DPC), and coupled with an aberration corrected microscope this can be done at an unprecedented resolution of 1 nm. Perovskite oxide hetero-structures are receiving great interest due to the many ways magnetic properties can be altered through structure engineering. The goals of this proposal is to extend the DPC method to imaging of static and dynamic magnetic properties of such materials with nanometre resolution. Adjoined with conventional high quality STEM data of the atomic and orbital structure of the materials, our understanding of structure-function coupling in perovskite thin films will be improved.

Trefwoorden:MAGNETISME, ELEKTRONENMICROSCOPIE

Disciplines:Klassieke fysica, Fysica van gecondenseerde materie en nanofysica, Elementaire deeltjesfysica en hoge-energie fysica, Andere fysica