Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Microscopy and Spectroscopy

• Conventional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to study spin dynamics
• One of the few groups worldwide to be pioneering the new technique of NMR force microscopy (NMRFM). Where one couples the nuclear moments of a sample to micro-oscillators and detects motion with fiber-optic interferometry
• Applied to study physics of:
• Polymer films
• Metal hydride films
• Individual cell microscopy
• NMR of microcrystals
• Ultimate goal is for single nuclear spin detection
• Applications in molecular biology, quantum computation, and subsurface characterization

Dynamics of Ferromagnets

• Electron-beam evaporation of thin magnetic films, magnetic dots, and multilayers onto oscillators
• Domain wall motion: study of interface depinning, hysteresis, reproductibity, and criticality (self-organized or otherwise)
• Study of effects of interface topography and reduced dimensionality on ultrathin film and multilayer magnetism

High-Q Oscillator Experiment

Probe fundamental phenomena at force sensitivities of 3x10^-18 N at 0.3 K and displacements of 10^-4 nm. For example:

• Direct measurement of transverse forces on moving vortices (the Magnus effect)
• "Intrinsic" pinning of magnetic vortices due to spatial variations of the superconducting order parameter

High Temperature Superconducting Materials

In-house fabrication of supercondunducting materials using several processes:

• Crystal growth of copper-oxide materials
• Synthesis by novel routes (high pressure; low temperature)

These materials are tested for anisotropy, vortex dynamics, magnetoelectric properties using:

• SQUID magnetometry
• Specific heat measurements
• Transport measurements (magnetoresistance, Hall effect, etc.)
• High pressure systems
• Nuclear magnetic resonance

Novel Charge States of Oxide Interfaces

Pulsed laser deposition of epitaxial oxide films used in studying interfaces with regards to:

• 2D quantum transport
• Effects of systematic variation of interface strain and intrinsic doping

Optically Switchable Metal Hydride Films

Investigation into the physics behind the optical switching properties of metal-hydride thin films:

• Diffusion
• Substrate strain ("superdiffusion")
• Alloy composition
• Metal/insulator transition
• Cooperative displacements; electron correlations