Recent Discoveries:

» Nebraska-MRSEC researchers in collaboration with researchers from University of Wisconsin-Madison have proven the concept of ferroelectric tunnel junction. Using advanced scanning probe techniques and ultrathin epitaxial ferroelectric BaTiO₃ films grown on SrRuO₃ electrodes they demonstrated the correlation between ferroelectric polarization orientation (left image) and the tunneling current flowing from a conductive-AFM tip through the BaTiO₃ barrier layer (right image). These results support theoretical predictions made earlier by MRSEC researchers and open the way to employ ferroelectric tunnel junctions in novel nano-electronic devices and advanced data storage applications.

» Nebraska MRSEC researchers in collaboration with their international partners at Stuttgart, Vienna and München have discovered that atomically small nanostructures of Fe and Pt can also, under certain conditions, exhibit magnetic anisotropy values similar to those of their L1₀ bulk counterparts. (more...)