MateriAlZ Seminar: Michael Adam Susner
Friday, 19 January 2024 - 11:00 a.m. MST
Michael Adam Susner
Materials and Manufacturing Directorate
Air Force Research Laboratory
"Ferroelectric and Magnetic Thiophosphates: A Novel 2D Materials Platform"
Zoom link | Passcode: 168666
MateriAlZ Seminar website | YouTube | Twitter
Abstract
Correlated two-dimensional (2D) materials offer a new avenue for the development of next-generation electronic devices. Since the discovery of Dirac physics in graphene, research in 2D materials has grown exponentially with two main aims: 1) the discovery of new (and preferably functional) 2D materials, 2) developing new and innovative techniques to harness and tune their optical, magnetic, and electronic properties. Though most research on 2D materials has focused on graphene, boron nitride, and transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs), new 2D materials classes are coming into the forefront, including metal thiophosphates which, in many ways, are the 2D equivalent of complex oxides as changes in composition, stacking, or pressure in turn lead to large changes in bandgap, magnetic ordering temperature and type, ferroelectric ordering temperature, quadruple potential wells for neuromorphic computing, and even the appearance of superconductivity. I shall present the materials characterization of CuInP2S6 and related self-assembled CuInP2S6/In4/3P2S6 heterostructures as a case study for this materials class in particular, and 2D materials in general, to show how the underlying physics is affected by chemical and structural modifications. I will also discuss recent efforts in materials characterization where our team determined that the heterostructured phase evinces a tunable quadruple potential well for the ferroelectric phase which has possible implications as a route information processing and storage. Finally, I will discuss recent experimental efforts on magnetic MTPs and their rich physics which offer an opportunity for potential for possible terahertz optoelectronic devices.
Bio
Dr. Susner earned his BS in chemistry (2005) from Michigan State University and his MS (2009) and PhD (2012) in materials science and engineering from Ohio State University. From 2014-2016 he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Correlated Electron Materials Research Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He joined the Air Force Research Laboratory in 2017 as an NRC Fellow and became a staff scientist for AFRL in the Photonic Materials Branch in 2020 in order to establish a crystal growth center at AFRL. He is interested in establishing structure-property correlations in functional materials, i.e. those evincing magnetic, ferroelectric, and superconducting behaviors. His current research focuses on the development of materials for second harmonic generation for laser conversion and for quantum information materials.