Associate professor publishes findings from spin-glass materials study
Dr. Jason Haraldsen, UNF associate professor of physics, has published a research paper exploring the experimental topic of electronically altering spin-glass materials for future technological applications for the American Physical Society’s Physical Review Journal.
The study of spin-glass materials, one area that recently received the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, has the potential for enhancing technology through energy-efficient magnetic memory. To accomplish this, researchers need to understand the underlying nature of the electronic and magnetic states in spin-glass materials.
In his study, Haraldsen and his team computationally investigated the electronic changes in zinc telluride (ZnTe) and made it magnetic by replacing tellurium (Te) with manganese (Mn). This made the Mn-doped ZnTe, known as a diluted magnetic semiconductor, become a spin glass as it was below a specific temperature (typically very cold). This transition was experimentally confirmed in the publication.
Furthermore, the researchers’ findings indicate that the spin-glass transition temperature depends on specific electron interactions that seem to provide a dramatic increase in the transition temperature. This means that if those electron interactions can be manipulated, it may be possible to control the spin-glass state for technological applications.
To read the full article, “Enhancement of the Spin-glass Transition Temperature Through Pd-orbital Hybridization In Zn1-xmnxte,” visit the American Physical Society’s Physical Review B journal website.