Milton From
Department: Physics
Research Areas: Magnetic nanostructures, Brillouin light scattering
Education
B.S. Physics, University of Manitoba (1982)
M.Sc. McGill University (1984)
Ph.D. McGill University (1989)
Postdoctoral Fellow Instituto de Fisica e Mathematica, Lisbon , Portugal (1990)
Postdoctoral Fellow Simon Fraser University, Vancouver , Canada (1991-94)
Research Interests
When made into nanostructures common materials can sometime exhibit very strange and useful properties. For example Iron-Chromium nanosandwiches exhibit a giant magnetoresistance (GMR) that is hundreds of time the magnetoresistance of either of the bulk materials. Discovery of this effect in 1988 led to enormous technological advances and a Nobel prize in Physics (2007) for its discoverers. Our research focuses on the study of the electrical and magnetic properties of nanostructured metallic films. Possible applications of this work include devices that utilize GMR, magnetocaloric effects, and spin-polarized electron transport. Research students develop expertise with a number of techniques including sputter deposition of thin films, x-ray reflectivity, magneto-optical Kerr effect, and Brillouin light scattering.
