NEWS Lakshmi Das, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics, has been awarded funding through the EU's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Postdoctoral Fellowship to study a new magnetic material that could pave the way for more efficient and secure data storage.
Lakshmi Das, postdoctoral researcher in the Ultrafast Nanoscience group at the Department of Physics.
ImageHans KarlssonIn her new research project, Lakshmi Das will investigate a relatively new magnetic material which has the potential to enable the development of next-generation high-performance electronic devices. It is a manganese-based so called antiferromagnetic material that can work at room temperatures.
Antiferromagnetic materials contain small magnetic moments that, unlike those in traditional magnetic materials, point in opposite directions, thereby neutralising each other.
“This makes them notoriously difficult to control but also very stable, as they are not affected by external magnetic fields,” says Lakshmi Das.
Traditional magnetic materials are currently used for data storage in devices such as hard drives and electronic cards. However, they have several drawbacks; one of which is that they are easily influenced by nearby magnetic fields. A common example is hotel key cards that can become demagnetized and stop working if stored too close to a mobile phone.
In contrast, antiferromagnetic materials are much more stable, making them easier to use and integrate with other devices. They are also significantly faster and more energy-efficient, as they do not dissipate energy in heat. This makes them a highly interesting area of research at the moment.
“They are very useful for future applications in information storage,” says Lakshmi Das.
Despite their promising properties, this manganese-based material remains relatively unexplored. Many questions still need to be answered about how electrons move inside the material, what exactly gives rise to its magnetic properties and how the material reacts to ultrafast light pulses. Lakshmi Das will use advanced techniques to uncover the fundamental physical processes within the material.
“We are entering a new era. Nobody has done this kind of work before, which makes it interesting both from a fundamental physics perspective and an applied research standpoint, and for the future of spintronics,” says Lakshmi Das.
Spintronics is a field of research that leverages the spin of electrons, in addition to their charge, to store and transfer information, enabling the development of even more advanced electronic components.
Lakshmi Das is part of the Ultrafast Nanoscience research group, led by Nicolò Maccaferri, since May 2023. The announcement that she has been awarded the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Postdoctoral Fellowship is an important milestone for the group.
“It was a very rewarding experience, both for me personally and for us as a group. Both Nicolò and I put a lot of effort into the application. We are a new and upcoming group, so it feels great to receive such recognition,” says Lakshmi Das.
The project "Ultrafast Optical Antiferromagnetic TOPological Spintronics" (ATOPS) receives just over 200 000 euros for two years and will begin in May 2025. This is the second time this year that the Department of Physics has received funding through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Postdoctoral Fellowship. The previous grant was awarded to Anton Kirch, with Ludvig Edman as the supervisor.
Nicolò Maccaferri was also recently awarded an ERC Starting Grant.
