Ph.D., The University of British Columbia, Canada, 2003

Max Planck Society Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Germany, 2003-2006.

Assistant Professor, 2006-present.

Research Interests: Fabrication and characterization of artificial quantum materials with particular emphasis on strongly correlated oxide nanostructures. This includes: (1) Fabrication of novel tailor-made superlattices composed of ferroelectric-ferromagnet, ferromagnet-superconductor, band insulator-Mott insulator oxide nanostructures (films, wires and dots) and organic conductor-ferromagnet heterolayers. (2) Advanced characterization of nanostructures with synchrotron based X-ray spectroscopies and polarized neutron reflectivity. (3) Theoretical investigation of multiscale electronic phenomena in oxide nanostructures with a goal to fabricate nanomaterials with predicted properties.

MULTISCALE PHENOMENA IN ARTIFICIAL COMPLEX OXIDE NANOSTRUCTURES

The main goal of our research is to apply the atomic-scale control technique to metal oxides to create novel artificial materials for new devices functioning optically, electronically, and magnetically in a way that either do not exist in the nature. We focus on the class of materials known as metal oxides with strong emphasis on transition metal oxides (TMO). By its very nature oxides are the most unusual materials due to enormous range of unique and outstanding properties they possess. The main property which distinguishes TMO is their colossal response to external stimuli like electric field, magnetic field, light or heat. This makes this class of materials unique and dramatically different from semiconductors, normal metals and organic substances. Here is an example of such a unique superlattice composed of a ferromagnet-high Tc superconductor (see Figure).

Nanofabrication and Advanced Characterization: To artificially fabricate nanofilms based on transition metal oxides we use a recently developed technique called oxide Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) combined with high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) control. PLD is the ultra-thin film deposition technique based on evaporation of materials with a powerful excimer laser. Using RHEED during the fabrication we can control thickness of nanostructures on atomic scale. By monitoring the intensity of the electron beam reflected from the growing surface, we can study motion of atoms, nucleation, defects and ordering phenomena in layer-by-layer growth. Using this atomic engineering technique, we can construct artificially designed stacks or superlattices with unusual and often completely unexpected physical properties not found in nature. For characterization purpose we utilize a wide variety of techniques such as x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, magneto-transport and magneto-optics. Once the basic material properties have been established we apply advanced characterization. For this reason we take our superlattices to the world leading synchrotron and neutron facilities such as Advanced Photon Source, Chicago and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxford, UK.