Event

Phase transitions and mechanical degrees of freedom in quantum materials

Date

Monday, February 26, 2024
09:30 - 11:00

Abstract

Novel quantum materials such as two-dimensional (2D) crystals, complex oxides and their heterostructures are promising to address challenges in creating better sensors, smaller electronic and mechanical devices due to their unique functional properties and atomic thinness. These nanomaterials possess new degrees of freedom for phase transitions which are highly sensitive to both external and internal stimuli, rendering them ideal sensors for inconspicuously subtle forces of nature [1].

For example, when quantum materials, such as magnetic 2D materials, are utilized as suspended membranes, the reduced dimensionality of these results in characteristic types of magnetically ordered phases that leave a fingerprint in their mechanical response to stress [2]. This magneto-mechanical coupling allows to modify magnetic properties of these membranes through controlled straining, and vice versa - to affect the dynamics of their motion via a magnetic field.

Here, we will discuss the recent progress in the advanced nanofabrication of these novel materials and pioneering techniques used to probe their phase transitions via nanomechanical motion. We will theoretically substantiate the correlation between the stress in these materials and the ordering at the phase transition temperature. Finally, we will experimentally verify it for material systems of different types: 2D-layered magnets, MOFs, their heterostructures and beyond.

Short Biography

Dr. Makars Šiškins is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials (I-FIM) of the National University of Singapore in a group of Prof. Konstantin S. Novoselov. His research interests cover the fields of 2D materials, nanomechanics, magnetism and condensed matter physics. He previously defended his PhD cum laude at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, where he also was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2022.

References
[1] Šiškins, M., Lee, M., Mañas-Valero, S. et al. Magnetic and electronic phase transitions probed by nanomechanical resonators. Nat Commun 11, 2698 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16430-2

[2] Houmes, M.J.A., Baglioni, G., Šiškins, M. et al. Magnetic order in 2D antiferromagnets revealed by spontaneous anisotropic magnetostriction. Nat Commun 14, 8503 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44180-4

Organiser

UvA-IoP

Venue

UvA - Faculty of Science

Room number

L0.11

Category

Colloquium

Topics

nanolithography, quantum matter

Speakers

Dr. Makars Šiškins (National University of Singapore)

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