For more information, please contact the project leader Alexey Kimel.
Phd Position – QuMat.1-RU-2.3B / 4.2A
- Location: Radboud University in Nijmegen
- Project Leader: Alexey Kimel
- Contact: aleksei.kimel@ru.nl
Part 1: Advanced spectroscopy of complex magnetism
This project will focus on characterizing the static and dynamic behavior of synthesized magnetic films and heterostructures. We will look at the emergence of complex magnetic order in rare-earth films and ascertain the role of spin orbit coupling and magnetic exchange. Special attention will be paid to manipulating this order with local spin torques to quantify how these materials can be used for magnetic memory and low-energy spin transfer. We will explore the presence of topological magnons as well as fundamentally new types of quasiparticle excitations, such as fractons.
Part 2: Optical sensing and control of topologically protected states
We will study the emergence of complex magnetic order in rare-earth materials and ascertain the role of spin orbit coupling and magnetic exchange. We will aim at manipulating this order, with laser fields, in order to quantify how we can utilize these materials for magnetic memory and low-energy spin transfer. Moreover, we will explore the presence of topological magnons as well as fundamentally new types of quasiparticle excitations, like fractons, in these material systems.
About Alexey Kimel
The Kimel group explores magnetization dynamics in an ultrafast regime in which thermodynamic theories fail and modeling requires developing new approximations. These studies allowed the group to achieve several breakthroughs in the area of femtosecond magnetism, which may impact future technologies for ultrafast magnetic recording, THz spintronics and THz magnonics.
The group continuously develops novel experimental approaches and its unique experimental setups, including femtosecond imaging, pumping in a broad spectral range (from THz to visible) and time-resolved measurements in high magnetic fields, allow it to keep its leading position in the field of ultrafast magnetism.
About Radboud University
Radboud University is a private university that owes its origins to the Catholic emancipation movement that was active at the start of the twentieth century. The university’s staff members and students feel connected to each other, to society, and to the world around them. We focus our attention on taking care of each other and the world around us and we are committed to equal rights for social and cultural minorities. We want to make a difference and, to this end, we are guided by academic issues and social challenges.
At our university, research and education go hand in hand. We encourage our students to become skilled, committed, critical and self-conscious academics who will go on to assume responsible positions from which they will be able to competently shape society. We are active across a wide range of joint academic disciplines and we continue to ask questions about the relationship between knowledge, society and the meaning of life. We also offer scope for open discussion on social and ethical issues.
We promote educational quality and freedom and endorse research that is both independent and accessible. We foster an open intellectual climate, in which we inspire and challenge each other and where each individual’s personal qualities are able to flourish. In accordance with careful, honest and transparent scientific practice, we push the boundaries of our knowledge. This subsequently provides us with the courage and responsibility to critically review our findings and ideas. We reflect on our own actions and offer room for reflection.