State of the art ferrite materials for fundamental research, nano-science, and high frequency applications.

Ferrite materials have long played an important role in power conditioning, conversion, and generation across a wide spectrum of frequencies (up to 10 decades). They remain the preferred magnetic materials, having suitably low losses, for most applications above 1 MHz, and are the only viable materials for nonreciprocal magnetic microwave and millimeter wave devices (including tunable filters, isolators, phase shifters, and circulators). Recently, novel processing techniques have lead to a resurgence of research interest in the design and processing of ferrite materials as nanoparticles, films, single crystals, and metamaterials. These latest developments have set the stage for their use in emerging technologies that include cancer remediation therapies such as magneto-hyperthermia, magnetic targeted drug delivery, and magneto-rheological fluids, as well as enhanced magnetic resonance imaging.

With reduced dimensionality of nanoparticles and films, and the inherent nonequilibrium nature of many processing schemes, changes in local chemistry and structure have profound effects on the functional properties and performance of ferrites. In this lecture, we will explore these effects upon the fundamental magnetic and electronic properties of ferrites. Density functional theory will be applied to predict the properties of these ferrites, with synchrotron radiation techniques used to elucidate the chemical and structural short-range order. This approach will be extended to study the atomic design of ferrites by alternating target laser-ablation deposition. Recently, this approach has been shown to produce ferrites that offer attractive properties not found in conventionally grown ferrites. We will explore the latest research developments involving ferrites as related to microwave and millimeter wave applications and the attempt to integrate these materials with semiconductor materials platforms.