Iuliia Alekhina

PhD thesis: TBC

Nowadays spintronics and superconductivity are the fields of great research interest not only for fundamental knowledge about the materials but also for practical purposes. The former, for instance, is a promising computational tool allowing rapid and energy-efficient data processing, and the latter one can find extremely promising for power supplies or transportation, such as Maglevs. However, their connection can bring even more benefits both to the practical use and the understanding of physical processes in the materials. Recently it was shown that the proximity of ferromagnetic and superconducting materials in multilayered structures leads to the demonstration of novel properties and effects such as, for instance, tuneable with magnetic field critical current or superconducting diode effect – resistive flow of current in one direction and superconducting in the opposite direction. The aim of my PhD is to observe and optimise these effects in NiS2/Nb.

Who or what inspired you to pursue your research interests?

Investigation of magnetic materials has been my great passion since my very first years of higher education. In this class of matter one can face numerous complex structures and intriguing effects showing how fascinating Nature is. All of them have not only scientific importance, but practical purpose as well: one can use magnetic thin films for spintronics – for power saving and computing power enhancement. When I read the papers from Professor Robinson about superconducting spintronics, I was deeply amazed at how the two fields can interplay showing truly new physics – the best motivator for scientists.