Description

This postdoctoral fellowship opportunity at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) focuses on pioneering research in low dimensional phase transitional magnetism, specifically targeting the development of novel computing devices that use magnetic ordering as a state variable instead of electric charge. The end of Moore’s Law scaling has created a critical need for alternative device paradigms that overcome the physical and power limitations of current charge-based electronics.

The research aims to exploit metamagnetic materials, such as FeRh, which can be toggled between antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic states by external stimuli (e.g., strain, temperature, electric field). This metamagnetic transition can be precisely controlled, enabling ultra-low power gating of magnetic states. Devices based on this principle promise orders of magnitude improvements in power efficiency, speed, non-volatility, endurance, and radiation hardness compared to conventional technologies.

The NRC Postdoctoral Fellow will engage in identifying, fabricating, characterizing, and understanding metamagnetic devices and materials, including:

• Fabrication of uniform, device-quality metamagnetic materials under quantum confinement.
• Control of magnetism via external stimuli such as temperature, ion implantation, electric fields, light, or disorder.
• Investigation of underlying physics using advanced neutron, muon, and photon source facilities.
• Development of memory and logic devices utilizing magnetism as a state variable.
• Study of nanoscale patterning effects on metamagnetic transitions.
• Optimization and performance characterization of novel metamagnetic devices.
• Discovery of new metamagnetic materials through theoretical and experimental approaches.

Keywords associated with this research include Metamagnetism, Nanofabrication, FeRh, Neutron Scattering, Polarized Neutron Scattering, Thin Film Growth, Magnetotransport, X-ray Diffraction, Muon Spin Resonance, and Ion Irradiation.