Achievement

IGERT Fellow Daniel Shai and collaborators are trying to store information in the spin of an electron. At low temperatures, the unique magnetic and electrical properties of europium oxide (EuO) cause this material to conduct electrons with one type of spin ("up") while halting the flow of electrons with the opposite spin ("down"). This spin filtering behavior may advance the field of electronics to "spintronics." Shai has been collaborating with the Schlom research group at Cornell to grow customized EuO crystals that include small amounts of other materials (dopants). Shai measures the properties of these new materials and compares his measurements to calculations performed under the guidance of Dr. Ilya Elfimov at the University of British Columbia. The team is working to increase the ultracold temperature at which these unusual electrical and magnetic properties appear.