MSE Colloquium: Julia Mundy, Design and Construction of Multifunctional Oxide Heterostructures

Abstract

Transition metal oxides exhibit almost every physical state known including photoconductivity, metallic conductivity, (high-temperature) superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, ferroelectricity, and ferromagnetism.  Combined with the ability to epitaxially integrate these materials with silicon, they are leading candidates for applications spanning from photocatalysts to data storage.  Moreover, the interface between two transition metal oxides is a further playground: the additional degrees of freedom inherent at these heterointerfaces can stabilize phases that deviate significantly from those of the parent compounds. Here I will show how advanced thin film deposition, in conjunction with analytical electron microscopy, can be used to engineer new multifunctional complex oxide materials. In particular, I will discuss the design of the first material shown to be a strong magnetoelectric multiferroic at room-temperature--and thus a candidate for low-power electronics--as well as strategies to move and store charge in oxide heterostructure.

Bio

Julia A. Mundy is a President's Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.  Her research uses advanced thin film deposition and electron microscopy to design, synthesize and characterize complex oxide heterostructures with sub-Angstrom resolution.  Julia earned a B.A. in Chemistry and Physics and an M.A. in Chemistry from Harvard University and a PhD in Applied Physics from Cornell University where she was a National Science Foundation and National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow.  She has also been recognized by the Materials Research Society, the American Physical Society/American Institute of Physics and the Microbeam Analysis Society.