Students - Master thesis subjects

Molecular Magnets

PI of the experiment: Wim Decelle, Johan Vanacken
Email: Wim.Decelle@fys.kuleuven.be
Group leader: Prof. Victor Moshchalkov

Short Summary:
Probing the nanoscale world is often performed through mesoscopic systems that provide a bridge to our macroscopic world. In the field of magnetism, one can find such mesoscopic systems in the form of molecular magnets. In general these nanoscale clusters provide a high spin ground state, f.e. S=10 for the prototype molecular magnet Mangenese-12 Acetate (Mn₁₂Ac), in combination with superparamagnetic behaviour when grown into single crystals. The result is a set of mesoscopic systems that show intrinsically quantum mechanical processes, such as Quantum Tunneling of the Magnetization (QTM), Quantum Magnetic Deflagration and many more, in studies of the magnetization of millimetre-size single crystals. Our lab focuses on the behaviour of such molecular magnets when exposed to highly non-adiabatic conditions in pulsed magnetic fields.

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Plasmon enhanced photoluminescence in quantum-dot coatings

PI of the experiment: Damien Saurel, Johan Vanacken
Email: Damien.Saurel@fys.kuleuven.be
Group leader: Prof. Victor Moshchalkov

Short Summary:
The shrinking of component size in nanoelectronics (Moore’s law) has encountered the physical limits of electronic transport, affecting potential future technological progresses. The most promising solution here is to go for optical intra- and inter-chip interconnects, which are much faster than conventional metallic interconnects. The issue is then to be able to manipulate photons in the sub wavelength scale, i.e. the nanometric scale. Remarkably, in that limit nanomodulated metallic films can combine the better of the two worlds: surface plasmons in these films can very efficiently enable the light propagation, together with the still efficient electrical conductivity, allowing to reach superlensing, cloaking, unusual-non-linear effects or luminescence amplification nano-emitters. The study of these phenomena in special designed nanostructures (together with IMEC) is done via UV to NIR optical spectroscopy / photoluminescence in pulsed magnetic fields.

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