OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Oct. 18, 2010 -- Theoretical work done at the
Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has
provided a key to understanding an unexpected magnetism between
two dissimilar materials. The results, published in Nature
Communications, have special significance for the design of
future electronic devices for computations and
telecommunications, according to co-author Satoshi Okamoto of
ORNL's Materials Science and Technology Division. The work was
performed at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, synchrotron
radiation facilities in France and Japan, University of Bristol
and University of Warwick. "What the team found was an
unexpected magnetic order among the titanium atoms at an
interface between strontium titanate and lanthanum manganite,
which are both insulators in bulk," Okamoto said. With today's
nano-fabrication tools, scientists can develop artificial
materials with controlled precision – almost atom by atom – of
alternating very thin crystalline layers of different materials.
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