Group Nordlander

Our work seeks to create quantum materials by design through thin-film epitaxy. Beyond epitaxial stabilization of novel metastable phases, the thin-film geometry offers a unique opportunity to explore fundamental thickness limits, dimensional cross-over effects and 2D confinement. Furthermore, we will search for fundamentally new physical phenomena that can emerge at the abrupt interfaces between dissimilar materials in epitaxial heterostructures.

Our main focus is on complex oxides, a multifunctional materials class where high flexibility in chemical composition and strong electronic correlations lead to rich phase diagrams that in particular may host exotic phases of quantum matter such as high-temperature superconductors, multiferroics, spin liquids and topological phases. Our interests lie in the manipulation of such phases in thin films by careful design of lattice geometry to set or break symmetries at the nanoscale that in turn control the macroscopic properties of the system.

Our group will utilize the flexibility and precision of pulsed laser deposition to construct nanoscale single layers and heterostructures of functional oxides in a monolayer-by-monolayer approach. We will further employ a number of characterization techniques both in-house and at large-scale user facilities to interrogate their physical properties, such as electron/x-ray diffraction and spectroscopy, scanning probe microscopy, optical characterization, SQUID magnetometry, and electrical transport.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Johanna Nordlander
Email: johanna.nordlander@physik.uzh.ch

Office: Y-36-H-74