Unconventional Transducers: Novel Paths to Light, Magnetism, and Mecha…

Intrinsic properties of materials such as chemical inertness, high mechanical strengths, and high thermal or electrical conductance, determine their technological utility as well as its economical value. Then, there are materials that readily act as transducers in which a form of energy is changed, such as mechanical to electrical in piezoelectric materials, electrical to light in electroluminescent materials, mechanical to magnetic in magnetoresistive materials. Such properties, particularly giving a new avenue, a new dimensionality to control another, add value as transducers are easily realized into sensors, memory, and logic elements, all technologically relevant and valuable. In this talk, I will overview our progress in unconventional transducers. Utilizing spin-orbit interaction in a ferromagnetic diluted magnetic semiconductor, a new mechanical to magnetic effects are shown. Utilizing nonlinear dynamics, a mechanical analog to an optical laser cavity is shown, in which controlling the energy of a particular mode can be used to suppress or amplify another mechanical mode. Lastly, I will discuss how we might utilize graphene to emit light from a electrical source.