Welcome to the homepage of the Stöhr & Dürr group located at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory!
The group outside our home base of SSRL in mid-winter. Oh California...
News Feed
New in Nature Physics: Control of the metal-insulator transition
by stohrgroup, October 30th, 2013
Using strain-, polarization- and temperature-dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy, in combination with diffraction and electric transport measurements, we demonstrate that the transition temperature and the structural distortion across the metal-insulator transition in VO2 depend on the orbital occupancy in the metallic state. Transition temperature is then controlled continuously from 285K to 345K with epitaxial strain. See our new paper at Nature Phys. 9, 661 (2013).
New in Applied Physics Letters: Resonant small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) of magnetic recording media
by stohrgroup, October 23rd, 2013
SAXS allows for simultaneous and statistical characterization of structural grain sizes and magnetic cluster sizes. We studied and highlight the recent developments that allows the optimization of composite recording media for increasing areal densities. See our new paper at Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 112403 (2013).
Congratulations to Dr. Wang!
by stohrgroup, September 9th, 2013
Han defended his thesis in the nick of time before the end of the summer! Han is wrapping up his thesis this fall, but will be staying in the Bay Area for his next gig.
The group celebrating Han's defense - even Sara made it!
New in Nature Materials: Speed limit of an insulator-metal transition
by stohrgroup, August 1st, 2013
Setting the speed limit for an ultrafast electrical switch. Resonant x-ray diffraction and optical reflectivity measurements reveal the mechanism behind the insulator-metal, or Verway, transition in magnetite. See our new paper at Nature Mater. doi:10.1038/nmat3718 (2013) and read more about it in the SLAC Today article here.
Local ordering in magnetite as it goes through verwey transition following laser excitation (blue - insulator phase, red - metallic phase).
New in Nature Materials: Nanoscale spin reversal in GdFeCo
by stohrgroup, March 17th, 2013
Time-resolved x-ray scattering at LCLS reveals the all-optical switching material GdFeCo behaves very different on the nanoscale when excited by an optical laser pulse. Nanoscale regions of the sample reverse their magnetization direction by taking in spins from the surrounding areas. See our new paper at Nature Mater. 12, 293 (2013) and read more about it in the SLAC Today article here.
Chemically-enriched nanoscale regions of the GdFeCo sample (shown in a) reverse their magnetization direction following optical excitation (time-resolved dynamics shown in b).
Farewell to Sanne and Suman!
by stohrgroup, Oct. 17th, 2012
We will miss them both! Sanne is heading back to the Netherlands and Suman up the road to Berkeley.
The group at The Refuge to celebrate some great years.
Congratulations to Dr. Wu!
by stohrgroup, July 27th, 2012
Benny defended his thesis this summer with scant days to spare before Andreas heads back to Germany. Benny is wrapping up his thesis this fall, and then moving on to Lam Research.
Jo congratulates Benny on passing.
New in PRL: Femtosecond Single-Shot Imaging of Nanoscale Ferromagnetic Order at LCLS
by stohrgroup, June 29th, 2012
Our first group paper from LCLS experiments! We show the first single-shot magnetic images of worm domains in CoPd multilayer structures. See our new paper at Phys. Rev. Lett. 108. 267403 (2012).
New in PRL: Imaging the First-Order Magnetic Transition in La0.35Pr0.275Ca0.375MnO3
by stohrgroup, June 5th, 2012
PEEM images and RSXS measurements shed light on phase transitions in manganites. See our new paper at Phys. Rev. Lett. 108. 237202 (2012).