IBM Research Prize 2013

The goal of Mr. Weingart’s research was to determine the fundamental physics behind the observation that the magnetic moments in many magnetic perovskite-structure oxides show a canting away from ideal anti-ferromagnetic ordering, particularly in oxides that are simultaneously ferroelectric. This canting is usually attributed to the so-called Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) mechanism (developed by its namesakes in the 1960s), but other mechanisms are also often proposed, particularly single-ion anisotropy (SIA), in which the magnetic moments follow the local structural deformations of the system. There is general confusion in the field as to which mechanism dominates (and why) in different systems.

Understanding the origin of such canting is of both fundamental physical interest, and important for the design of new materials in which the magnetization is coupled to the electric polarization, which could enable entirely new device paradigms for sensor applications.

This outstanding achievement will be awarded with the IBM Research prize at the ETH-Tag on November 16, 2013.