CAREER: Quantum Critical Dynamics in Magnetic Systems

This CAREER award to a young faculty member at the University of Minnesota will establish a research program to study the spin dynamics of magnetic systems near quantum critical points. This project will develop and implement a hybrid magneto-optical technique for probing real-time spin dynamics near magnetic phase transitions. Relaxation on time scales of order 10 - 1000 picoseconds will be probed, providing information about spin dynamics that complements traditional techniques such as neutron scattering. The project is interdisciplinary, drawing on ideas from magnetism and semiconductor physics. Integrated with this research is an educational plan to enhance interdisciplinary approaches such as that used in this work, a new program in scientific communication will be established as part of an upper-level experimental methods course at the University of Minnesota. A set of resources for improving both written and oral communication will be developed, allowing physics students to receive feedback from their instructors, peers, and teaching support personnel in the University's Online Writing Center.

This CAREER award to a young faculty member at the University of Minnesota will establish a research program to study very fast processes in magnetic materials. Such processes are used for reading and writing information to computer hard disks. A new probe will be developed that will be capable of examining processes that occur on time scales up to 200 times faster than the 500 MHz operating speed of a desktop PC microprocessor. The project will employ a pulsed laser technique that is adapted from experiments on semiconductors. This is an example of how scientists benefit from communication across different disciplines. The educational plan of this project is to improve the way that scientists communicate with each other as well as with the general public. New techniques for teaching written and oral communication will be implemented in physics major courses at the University of Minnesota. A new framework for feedback from instructors and peers will be developed with the ultimate goal of transferring these techniques to the larger forum of introductory laboratory courses.