PHYS-HN01

Preferred major field of study or minimum required skills

Preferred Major: Chemistry or Physics It is desirable that the student has basic knowledge of inorganic or solid state chemistry or the willingness to learn it in our lab. It is an advantage if the student is a quick learner of scientific software. He or she should be a team-player and should be enthusiastic to work in a common laboratory environment.

Scholarly significance/intellectual merit

At NAIR LAB our research focus is towards discovering new magnets that are either frustrated magnets or multiferroic. Why is the search for a frustrated magnet or a multiferroic important? Because, these are the two classes of magnets that can revolutionize the world of data storage and quantum computing in the future. Both quantum magnets and multiferroics utilize the spin degree of freedom in a material to realize novel states of matter where information can be send from one point to the other fast and without loss. Especially, in a multiferroic, the special spin arrangement can lead to the development of electric polarization – a totally new phenomena that was never dreamt of before. We at NAIR LAB are motivated to discover new types of oxide magnets where the spin arrangement in the solid has a specific property of handedness called chirality. The material class called the langasites and the tetragonal chiral magnets are ideal for this search.

Research question(s)

1. What is the role of atomic displacements of the octahedral layers in bringing out frustration and magnetoelectric coupling in langasites? We want to answer this question by analyzing X ray and neutron diffraction data.
2. What other tetragonal chiral magnets can realize strong magnetoelectric coupling through vector spin chirality?

Methods/techniques/instruments to be learned/utilized

At NAIR LAB you have the possibility to learn the following:

• Solid state synthesis
• Crystal growth using optical floating zone method
• Rietveld analysis for finding crystal structures and magnetic structures
• Analysis of magnetization, specific heat of solids