Physics faculty publishes article in Nature family of journals

Trinanjan Datta, PhD, professor of physics in the College of Science and Mathematics’ Department of Physics and Biophysics, was recently published in npj Quantum Materials, part of the Nature family of journals.

Datta’s research featured in the article focuses on the chirality (structures whose images cannot be placed on top of each other, like left and right hands) of molecules and crystal structures and how it affects their magnetic properties.  

Usually, only chiral magnets can magnetize other substances, but Datta’s latest research shows that an achiral (structures whose images can be placed symmetrically on top of one another) magnets can lead to steps in magnetization.  

“Apart from applications in spintronics and computer memory devices due to the presence of magnetic skyrmions (twisted magnetic spin textures), the investigated magnetic phenomenon can provide additional technological applications such as in metrology and sensing devices,” Datta said.

The article marks the inaugural publication for the department under its new name. Physics faculty were originally part of the joint Department of Chemistry and Physics until the two disciplines branched into separate departments last June, and the publication is an important step for physics faculty to specialize their department further.  

The article was published as a collaboration between Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California and Augusta University, and Datta was the lead theorist on the research. 

“It is also great to share with the scientific community our new findings on the nature of novel magnetic materials.”