Description du projet
Utiliser des défauts du diamant pour imager les états magnétiques des antiferromagnétiques
Les matériaux antiferromagnétiques sont des candidats très prometteurs pour le développement de dispositifs de stockage de données à faible puissance. Cependant, la plupart des techniques de microscopie ne permettent pas de visualiser leur état magnétique dans l’espace réel. Une méthode récemment mise au point, qui fait intervenir des centres azote-lacune dans les diamants, pourrait contribuer à résoudre ce problème. Un unique centre azote-lacune est placé au sommet d’un nanopillier dans une pointe de diamant, permettant à la pointe de balayer de près la surface de l’échantillon. Financé par le programme Actions Marie Skłodowska-Curie, le projet DIMAF prévoit d’utiliser cette technique pour explorer l’ordre magnétique à l’échelle nanométrique de matériaux antiferromagnétiques. Le projet étudiera en particulier la configuration magnétique de l’antiferromagnétique modulé qu’est la ferrite de bismuth.
Objectif
Antiferromagnetic materials are very promising candidates for the development of new data storage devices with a low power comsumption, which explains the recent growing interest for the field of antiferromagnetic spintronics. However, the study of these systems is hindered by the difficulty to image their magnetic state in real space with most of the available microscopy techniques. The recently developed nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center magnetometry appears to be a solution to this problem. It probes the magnetic order via the measurement of the stray field present at the surface of the sample. The field is measured using the Zeeman shifts of the electronic spin sublevels of a single nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond. The single NV defect is placed at the apex of a nanopillar in a diamond tip integrated into an atomic force microscope, allowing to scan in close proximity to the sample surface. The goal of this project is to use this technique to explore the magnetic order at the nanoscale in antiferromagnetic materials which are relevant for applications in spintronics. The magnetic configuration of the modulated antiferromagnet BiFeO3 will be investigated. The experiments will first focus on the effects of epitaxial strain on the antiferromagnetic order. In a second step, the antiferromagnetic structure will be manipulated with local strain and spin currents. The NV-center magnetometer will be used to image directly the induced modifications.
This project offers high-quality technical training in NV-center magnetometry as well as the opportunity to acquire and strengthen transferable skills and to participate to international collaborations. It will thus foster the career development of the researcher in the growing and highly innovative field of antiferromagnetic spintronics.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinateur
75794 Paris
France