Study of competition between surface effects and interaction in small nanoparticle systems

• Grant number: 06/05014-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2007
• End date: June 30, 2008
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Knobel
• Grantee: Emilio de Biasi
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 06/60440-0 - Study of strongly correlated systems in extreme conditions, AP.TEM

Abstract

The present project has focus on the study of the surface effects and interactions on systems of small nanoparticles as a function of their concentration. The interest on this kind of systems is based in two main factors: the progress of the fundamental science in this area of knowledge, and, on the other hand, the strong motivation due to potential technological applications. The methodology comprises theoretical and experimental aspects. The experimental procedure will mainly focus on magnetization measurements as a function of magnetic field and temperature(using an SQUID magnetometer), as well as magnetic resonance. The theoretical aspect will contribute to the understanding of the physical microscopic process, and will be performed through the development of models, that involve statistics calculation of the particle anisotropy. Simulations using Monte Carlo simulations and optimization algorithms will be employed on the description of the strong interacting system that exhibits spin-glass like behavior.