A Platform to Develop and Utilise Characterisation Tools for Functional Magnetic Materials

Magnetic materials have played an increasingly important role in our society. The Functional Magnetic Materials Group at Imperial College have developed a suite of novel characterisation tools over recent years. This proposal describes how with proper support we could utilise these tools to best effect in the study of materials important for application and develop key new tools as appropriate. The materials we aim to study during the course of the Platform grant fall into four main areas a) ultrathin film narrow gap semiconductors for magnetic sensor technology; b)superconducting materials for low field portable MRI technology; c) materials that allow the harnessing of electron spin d) materials for 300K magnetic refrigeration. The first areas are very much a part of what the group are currently doing however we want to incorporate the new elements such as strain measurements in our Hall probe and point contact facilities and nanoscale sensor fabrication. Our forward look for the group is in the areas of Spintronics and Magnetocalorics. In Spintronics we plan to develop new tools to harness and exploit spin in electrical materials mainly narrow gap semiconductors. Here again there will be an emphasis on nanofabrication of devices. Magnetocalorics is a very new area for the group and a very exciting one. Our characterisation capability is ideally suited to making a really important novel contribution here, particularly with access to higher resolution sensors that will come out of other parts of the program. Overall the group is well connected to a network of international collaborators and many of these have written letters of support for this proposal. It would be our aim to use the Platform in part to strengthen these links as well as seed new collaborations and explore new avenues for funding in Europe and with industrial collaborators.