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New memory storage devices on horizon with UH
student's award-winning work in solid state physics
Houston, TX, Feb 16: A graduate student in physics at UH, Clarina dela Cruz,
captured first prize for her award-winning research in solid state physics that
may one day provide faster, more efficient access to data, music and movies in
such hand-held devices as MP3 players and cellular phones. Here, she is flanked
(from left to right) by her mentors Bernd Lorenz, research associate professor
with the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston (TcSUH),
and Paul C.W. Chu, the TLL Temple Chair of Science, physics professor and
founding director of TcSUH.
A University of Houston student's award-winning research in solid state physics
may one day provide faster, more efficient access to data, music and movies in
such hand-held devices as MP3 players and cellular phones.
A third-year graduate student in physics at UH, Clarina dela Cruz recently
captured first prize in the worldwide student competition of the 50th Magnetism
and Magnetic Materials Conference. This event annually brings together
scientists and engineers from the world over who are interested in recent
developments in all branches of fundamental and applied magnetism. The student
competition recognizes research excellence at the graduate level, with the
winner receiving a $1,000 fellowship and facing stiff competition from such
institutions as the University of Nijmegen (Netherlands), Stanford University
and Johns Hopkins University.
"I considered it a major achievement simply to be chosen as one of the five
finalists," dela Cruz said. "I did not expect to win the competition because of
the strength of my competitors who attend very prestigious universities."
Working under the supervision of Paul C.W. Chu, the TLL Temple Chair of Science,
physics professor and founding director of the Texas Center for
Superconductivity at the University of Houston (TcSUH), dela Cruz began her own
research on the magneto-electric effects in multiferroic compounds after joining
Chu's High-Pressure Low-Temperature Group at TcSUH in January 2004. These new
materials bear the potential for the future development of a new type of memory
storage device and eventually may be found in any computer as a magneto-electric
hard drive or for speeding up hand-held devices.
"Clarina is a highly motivated, bright student with an unusual experimental
skill," Chu said. "This honor is a reflection of her dedication and hard work.
In a very short period of time after joining our group, she has developed a high
precision technique under the guidance of Professor Bernd Lorenz and obtained
data that others cannot in the exciting emerging subfield of solid state physics
– multiferroics. She can be very proud of her achievement."
As a student of Lorenz, the TcSUH research associate professor under whom dela
Cruz is working, her understanding of solid state physics deepened
significantly, and her interests quickly spread from superconductivity to
magnetism and ferroelectricity – some of the most fundamental phenomena in
condensed matter physics.
"The magneto-electric interaction present in these materials allows for a change
of the electric polarization by an external magnetic field or the control of the
magnetization using electric fields," said Lorenz. "This cross correlation of
magnetic and electric properties provides the physical basis for future new
developments in memory storage. In magneto-electric memory, media bytes will be
written by magnetic write heads, as realized in any standard hard drive, but the
stored information can be read electrically by detecting the subtle changes of
the electric polarization induced in the magnetic write process."
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