“Tyndall is a powerhouse research and innovation cente in a number of areas that are well aligned with IMR’s signature areas and the interests of many of our faculty,” said Professor Steven A Ringel, IMR executive director.

“We are honoured by the establishment of this strategic, international partnership. The two pilot projects already under way highlight the wide range of our common interests, and I am looking forward to their success and further growing the Tyndall-IMR collaboration.”

Each Catalyst research team consists of two principal investigators with complementary expertise, one from each institute. The research team will have access to a €25K Catalyst Award which will allow them to access to expertise and state-of-the-art infrastructure across both institutes.

“We are proud to expand Tyndall’s successful Catalyst Award internationally in this collaboration with the renowned Institute for Materials Research at The Ohio State University,” said Professor William Scanlon, chief executive officer a Tyndall.

“The initiative has launched with research from world-leading researchers at both locations covering the areas of nanomagnetic materials and compound semiconductor-based photonic integration. I’m excited to see the positive impacts of their ground-breaking research come to light.”

Advancing data storage

Dr Lynette Keeney at Tyndall, designed a rare multiferroic (intertwining ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties) material which allows for innovative ways of manipulating data and storing information.

In this exciting new project, Lynette has fostered a new collaboration with Dr Núria Bagués Salguero and Professor David McComb at the Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis (CEMAS) at IMR. Their expertise in atomic resolution, direct electron detection electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) will allow the team to directly “see” the atoms responsible for ferromagnetic behaviour and will enable them to determine the charge that these atoms carry.

These scientifically challenging experiments will progress the fundamental understandings of the factors controlling the unique multiferroic properties of this intriguing material, so that we can optimise properties and exploit this material for future data storage applications.

Photonic integrated circuits 

Shamsul Arafin, an assistant professor in Ohio State’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is collaborating with Tyndall’s III-V materials and devices group leader Brian Corbett. Their team is investigating materials and device technology that will lead to the development of visible light Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). 

Compact PICs based on visible light could be applied in monitoring, sensing, atomic clocks and information processing systems. For example, in healthcare, the technology could be leveraged for on-chip sensing to detect biomolecules. 

Ohio State and Tyndall are an ideal match in the pursuit to develop a visible light platform. Researchers at Tyndall had previously established processes to incorporate active components by transfer printing for heterogeneous integration. Ohio State researchers have a deep interest in the topic with expertise in the design of PICs and lasers, as well as fabrication and measurement of lasers.  

The team’s vision is to integrate on-chip pump lasers by transfer printing on the non-linear PIC to produce green light by second harmonic generation. In this pursuit, researchers will utilise spaces at both institutions: Tyndall’s Specialty Products and Services labs and Ohio State’s Nanotech West Laboratory, Semiconductor Epitaxy and Analysis Laboratory, and the Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis. 

The Tyndall Catalyst Award was established in 2017 by Graeme Maxwell, head of specialty products and services at Tyndall. He said: “I am delighted to see our first joint Catalyst Award is off to such a successful start and I look forward to welcoming new applications in July.”