Complexity under Spatial Confinement

Jian Shen

Materials Science and Technology Division and Center for Nanophase Materials
Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US
&
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee, US

Abstract:

The two hottest areas of research in condensed matter physics are complexity and
nanoscale physics. Interestingly, these two areas have little overlap as most of the
nanophysics research work is conducted using “simple” materials of metals or
semiconductors instead of complex materials such as transition metal oxides.
However, due to the strong electronic correlation, it is exactly the transition metal
oxides that will most likely lead to observations of striking new phenomena under
spatial confinement. I will use perovskite manganites as model systems to
demonstrate how spatial confinement can dramatically affect their transport and
magnetic properties. The emerging magnetic and transport behavior is likely
associated with the electronic phase separation under confined geometry in the
manganites. Some of the new properties such as ultrasharp jumps of
magnetoresistance may have significant impact on magnetic recording and sensing
technologies.

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