My research is mainly to study the phenomena of nanomagnetism through the fabrication and characterization of magnetic nanostructure materials with the goal of understanding the new material phenomena and exploring potential technological applications in spintronic devices and sensors. By utilizing geometric confinement and physical proximity, novel materials can be created by design. Devices that rely on an electron spin to perform their functions form the foundation of “spintronics.”
The fundamental magnetic properties such as spontaneous magnetization, magnetic anisotropy, the magnitude of spin and orbital moments, and magnetic interactions are strongly dependent on the geometry confinement of a given system. Molecular magnets have gained extensive interest due to their spin can be manipulated down to a single molecule level and could lead to ultra-high density data storage media.
The interplay between the different types of interactions and correlations present can produce a host of interesting spin-dependent effects. We study the spin-dependent properties in systems including magnetic single-electron devices, molecular magnets, and hybrid multilayers. Many of these have the direct potential for applications.
About Dr. Ruihua Cheng:
Education
- 2002 Ph.D. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Physics and Astronomy.
- 2000 M.Sc University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Physics and Astronomy.
- 1996 M.Sc Northern Jiaotong University, Department of Physics, P.R. China.
- 1993 B.Sc Northern Jiaotong University, Department of Physics, P.R. China.