Electromagnetic and thermal properties of nanostructures

Presently we are studying radiative properties of nanoheaters in the near-infrared. These are resistively heated structures from which we observe interesting polarization and emissivity results by reducing dimensions of our structures to sub-wavelength in the lateral dimension. This is a joint study project with Dr. Hamann's group at IBM in Yorktown Heights, New York. We have filed a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office, for applications to near-field microscopy.

High-frequency transport in semiconductor nanowires

In collaboration with Professor Vidar Gudmundsson and Dr. Sigurdur I. Erlingsson we aim to study high-frequency and time-dependent transport in 1-D wires fabricated in AlGaAs/GaAs 2DEGs. This work is supported by the recently established Nano-initiative by the Icelandic Science Council.

Electronic- and spin-transport studies in nanostructures

We are interested in transport in magnetic and nonmagnetic nanostructures. We are currently developing methods to isolate individual nanoparticles in order to study transport across them.

Magnetization relaxation in ferromagnetic thin films

One of the challenges of designing magnetic random access memory (MRAM) from either magnetic tunnel junctions or spin valves is obtaining reliable high speed switching of the magnetization of the “free layer” in these devices. This requires fast response and a damping mechanism, preferably adjustable, that facilitates rapid relaxation towards the new equilibrium magnetization direction. It is well known that the 3d ferromagnetic elements (and alloys thereof) have small Gilbert damping coefficients (which characterize their relaxation), a~10^-3, in the bulk (in the regime where Eddy current and exchange effects are negligible). An MRAM device with such small damping corresponds to a severely underdamped system, as confirmed by measurements on small devices. We have come up with several different ways of increasing damping in devices. Some of these methods provide significant tunability which should help in optimizing the switching properties of memory devices.