4 nanometers

1. Organizing the Charge and Magnetism in a Simple MetalM. C. Aronson, Stony Brook University, DMR 0405961 Electrons in familiar conductors like copper are highly mobile, and on average are evenly spaced. In more complex materials, such as the high temperature superconductors, the electrons can become spatially segregated and can even create a magnetic field which varies on the nanoscale. We have recently found that this charge and magnetic moment segregation can also be observed in very simple conductors. The picture on the right is a direct image of the room temperature electron density in chromium, doped with a few percent of vanadium. New classes of functional devices, such as advanced sensors, may be possible by manipulating these charge and magnetic `stripes’, and our discovery suggests that the range of materials which has this tuneability may be much broader than was previously known. 4 nanometers

2. Organizing the Charge and Magnetism in a Simple MetalM. C. Aronson, Stony Brook University, DMR 0405961 Education: This project has involved three graduate students, one undergraduate student, and one postdoc. Graduate student Marcus Bennett will be defending his PhD thesis shortly, while Liusuo Wu and Glenn Strycker are continuing with the project. Dmitriy Sokolov is completing his postdoc, and is taking a junior faculty position in the UK. Undergraduate Yuen Yiu has also participated in the project as a summer REU project, and is now working full time with the group prior to starting Physics graduate school in Fall 2008. All junior researchers associated with the project are being trained as future users of national neutron scattering facilities, and become expert in a number of advanced synthesis techniques. Societal Impact: Continued progress in new sensor and information storage technologies depends critically on the continuous discovery of new classes of functional materials. There is increasing concern that the United States may lose its historical pre-eminence in materials synthesis, and that this would have severe repercussions for researchers in materials inspired science and engineering. Our research focuses on the development of these new materials, but also seeks to prepare the next generation of researchers versed in both materials synthesis and advanced measurement techniques.