Searching for new magnetic materials.

11^th February 2019, 11:00 3rd floor meeting room, MIF
Mike Gaultois
Chemistry

Abstract

Magnetic materials have fascinated humans since the antiquity, but only recently since the 1800's with the work of Oersted and Maxwell did we begin to develop a deeper understanding of magnetism. Magnetic materials are now involved in many technological applications, many of which are limited by the material performance. One area of enquiry is the search for materials that can make hard permanent magnets, and another area of enquiry is the search for materials that conduct electricity without resistance (i.e., superconductors). This discussion is interested in exploring how we can best computationally predict (through first principles, or otherwise) the magnetic properties of a given material. We will describe what others have done to search for new materials using machine learning techniques, and discuss potential areas of interaction between MIF++ where advances can be made.