My work

Our new paper “Grain-size dependent demagnetizing factors in permanent magnets” has been published in Journal of Applied Physics (JAP). http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4904854 UPDATED UPDATE: an updated reprint version that should be better for Google Scholar crawling is now available here Abstract: The coercive field of permanent magnets decreases with increasing grain size. The grain size dependence of coercivity is explained by a size dependent demagnetizing factor. In Dy free Nd2Fe14B magnets, the size dependent demagnetizing factor ranges from 0....

This August Prof. Dominique Givord of Institut Néel – CNRS presented our paper titled “Hard Magnet Coercivity” during the 23rd International Workshop on Rare earth and Future Permanent Magnets and Their Applications (REPM2014) in Annapolis, Maryland. The manuscript was included in the conference proceedings and we would now like to make the reprint available to the wider public: Please click here for the PDF file. Abstract: Based on a critical analysis of the experimental coercive properties, general considerations on the reversal mechanisms in RFeB magnets are recalled....

Our new, cake-themed paper on nanostructured permanent magnets has now been published in Applied Physics Letters. In the paper we present results from micromagnetic simulations that assess the performance of multi-phase nanostructured permanent magnets, whose cross-section resemble that of a Battenberg cake. By including a super-hard outer shell we are able to counteract the effects of thermal fluctuations and surface defects, both of which are detrimental to the performance of such permanent magnets....

Our new paper titled “Thermally-activated coercivity in core-shell permanent magnets” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Physics. Click here to download the paper as a PDF file. In the paper we describe recent micromagnetics simulations on NdFeB grains that have undergone a dysprosium (Dy) grain boundary diffusion process (GBDP). The super hard (Dy,Nd)FeB shell that is formed during this process stabilizes the grains against thermal fluctuations that can be detrimental to the coercivity of the magnet in high-temperature situations....

Our new paper titled “Influence of defect thickness on the angular dependence of coercivity in rare-earth permanent magnets” has just been published in the journal Applied Physics Letters. It was a long time coming and the result of much collaborative effort but I am really proud that this work is finally out there. Thank you to all of my co-authors for their input, support and advice. The work shows using micromagnetics simulations and experimental data that there is a direct connection between the coercivity in rare earth permanent magnets and the thickness of the surface defect with reduced anisotropy....

Our new paper titled “Micromagnetics of shape anisotropy based permanent magnets” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (JMMM). Short description Visualizations of the computed magnetization data during reversal of soft prolate spheroids for aspect ratios (a) 1.95 and (b) 15.6, showing the different reversal modes. Permanent magnets are important components in electrical generators and motors, among other technologies, and they are critical to the operation of wind turbines and electric/hybrid cars....

New paper I am pleased to announce our new paper, which can be downloaded from http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.3791 Abstract In the search for rare-earth free permanent magnets, various ideas related to shape anisotropy are being pursued. In this work we assess the limits of shape contributions to the reversal stability using micromagnetic simulations. In a first series of tests we altered the aspect ratio of single phase prolate spheroids, ranging from 1 (sphere) to 20....

Photos from our European Researcher’s Night can now be found at http://www.destinationfuture.eu/fotos UPDATE: The above URLs are now dead.

In July our paper “System Dynamics models for improved power plant operation” was presented at ICOSC 2013 (The Fourth International Conference on Optimization, Simulation and Control) in Ulaanbaatar by our colleague and friend Bayasgalan Zagdkhorol of Mongolian University of Science & Technology (MUST). The abstract, which shows some of our early results, can be found here. Thank you, Zagdaa, for representing us and our work! Model of power generation grid including naive load model, coal, solar, wind and hydroelectric power sources....

Our tumour cell filter project was judged the Innovation Of The Year by futurezone magazine. You can read our paper here and a press release here. For more information about the awards ceremony please visit futurezone.at **Figure: Markus Gusenbauer accepting the award. **

A project that I am involved with has been shortlisted for the 2012 Futurezone Innovation Award. The project aims to develop micro-fluidic chips for circulating tumour cell (CTC) filtering, which could one day lead to better cancer diagnosis. Futurezone is a technology news website and formerly a printed supplement in the Austrian Kurier newspaper. For more information please visit http://futurezone.at/innovationaward