Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Ultrathin magnetic films are used in a variety of technological devices and the ability to manipulate the properties of these films in a predictable way, offers the exciting opportunity to improve existing devices and design new devices. Recent advances in materials science and experimental physics opens the possibility of manipulating materials properties by microscopic structural modification. However the production of prototypes is expensive. This project will use computer simulations and other theoretical methods to study how the magnetic properties of films are modified by such structural modification. The fundamental understanding of this relationship between microscopic structure and macroscopic properties will contribute to our ability to predict how structural modification can be used to generate novel and desirable characteristics of the magnetic film. In the later stages of this work structural modification of other technologically important materials, such as polymers, will also be considered.