Scientific overview

The d-electrons in transition metal oxides display a remarkable variety of physical properties, controlled by the diverse structural and oxidation state chemistry. This RTN focuses on the topical area of charge, orbital and spin ordering in these systems, which is fundamental to potential applications of such systems in devices. The network objective is to obtain a clear understanding of the chemical factors controlling the microscopic physical behaviour from atomic to mesoscopic length scales, and to use this understanding to design and then synthesise new oxide systems in which electronic ordering can be controlled. This objective will be achieved through four closely-coupled synthesis and measurements themes, exploiting the full modern range of measurements preparative and theoretical techniques. This is an area where breakthroughs can only be made by teams prepared to work together closely at the interfaces of disciplines, and which have truly comprehensive technique coverage - in essence the RTN will be a low-cost EU competitor for the Japanese JRCAT centre to move oxide science into the multidisciplinary area away from traditional subject boundaries.