Supervisors:
PhD student Mathias Kure, DTU Physics: matku@fysik.dtu.dk
Professor Cathrine Frandsen (45253167), DTU Physics: fraca@fysik.dtu.dk
Collaborators:
Associate Professor Marco Beleggia, DTU Cen: mb@cen.dtu.dk
Professor Jakob Schiøtz, DTU Physics: schiotz@fysik.dtu.dk
Magnetic nanoparticles have a wide range of applications, from cancer treatment and data storage to new industrial magnets that can increase the efficiency of generators and electric motors, see e.g.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/nanotechnology/the-incredible-pull-of-nanocomposite-magnets. It is expected that new advanced magnetic materials will be built bottom-up using nanoparticles as building blocks.
Using computer simulations, we aim to better understand the link between the structural arrangement of nanoparticles and their collective magnetic properties. To model the magnetic ordering in nanoparticle structures, we have made a Matlab programme using the molecular dynamics scheme, where Newton’s equations are solved for the magnetic forces that the individual nanoparticle moments are subject to.
In a physics project you will work to determine which magnetic structures are stable in different configurations of nanoparticles (e.g. ring-shaped configurations). To do this, your tasks will be to run, and possibly modify or expand, our Matlab code, hereunder set up the structural arrangement of nanoparticles (e.g. ordered, disordered), then analyze the results in order to quantify and optimize properties.
The project will build upon the material you learn(ed) in the electromagnetism course (Griffiths Chapter 6), introduce you to the concepts in molecular dynamics simulations, and increase your proficiency in Matlab programming language.
Figure shows simulations of magnetic ordering in nanoparticle assemblies during field reversal; colors represent magnetization direction (blue: right; yellow: left), black bars represent magnetic moment sum. From J. Jordanovic, M. Beleggia, J. Schiøtz and C. Frandsen, J. Appl. Phys. 118 (2015) 043901.