University researchers received a $500,000 grant in July to generate cost-efficient technology that would help diagnose diseases and detect land mines.
The National Science Foundation gave UH assistant professor of electrical engineering Stanko Brankovic the grant to further his study of magnetic-sensing nanodevices. These devices could detect magnetic fields emanating from landmines and help doctors diagnose medical conditions.
"If determined to be cost-effective, it could transform the industry," Brankovic said.
Brankovic’s research could also advance recording technology and spintronics, ascience used in computer hard drives.
Sensors used today are too primitive and expensive to detect the 100 million landmines that are estimated to lay detonated across the world posing a threat to civilians.
Brankovic’s team hopes to develop a sensor device that is less than 10 nanometers long. The sensors are composed of a nanocontact bridging two magnetic electrodes. Replicating the specific conditions required to create a precise and powerful magnetic field sensor, however, may prove more difficult for the researchers.
Brankovic stipulated that the device must pass through the paramagnetic phase and the oxide phase at the same time for the required results. Additionally, the oxide phase must have oxidized 40 percent while interacting with the paramagnetic phase.
Brankovic’s team hopes to meet all of these conditions while still engineering a technology that people would be able to afford.
"The technology’s good, but if it’s expensive, then only a few can afford it," Brankovic said.
Brankovic said reducing the size of the sensor would cause the electrons to flow through the nanocontact without scattering in reaction to heat. Because the electrons will move undisturbed, the sensor will be more precise.
Brankovic’s team must also prove that the presence of a magnetic field causes electrons on the nanocontact to change behavior. If they find physical evidence of this, then they may be able to develop a sensor that is more than 100 times more precise than modern detectors.
Brankovic and UH associate professor of electrical and computer engineering Dmitri Litvinov will study the materials and analyze data.
Arizona State University materials engineering professor Ray Carpenter will experiment with the materials. Brankovich described Carpenter as a "leader" in the transmission magnetics field. Nils Gokemeijer, research manager at hard-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology, will support data analysis and device testing.
The grant, funded by the NSF’s Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry, or GOALI, which funds research partnerships between academic and industrial teams, will allow Brankovic to continue the research he started with an Army grant received in 2007. With the 2007 grant, he built and demonstrated similar nanodevices as those of the Department of Defense.
