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Scientists have long sought to fully understand the intricate mechanisms via which magnetic states change due to mechanical strain.

They’re a step closer, thanks to an international team of researchers that includes Dr. Michalis Charilaou, an assistant professor in the in the Ray P. Authement College of Sciences.

Charilaou, whose research expertise includes magnetism and magnetic materials, collaborated with scientists from several universities around the world. Their study centered on magnetoelasticity – the effect of tensile strain or stretching – on magnetized materials.

The scientists discovered that when stress is applied to a thin, magnetized plate of nickel, the magnetic domains in the plate change shape. The significance of their observation rests on being “the first to actually see it happen, and observe how it happened.”

“Tensile strain changes the distance between the atoms, which changes the electromagnetic forces between them. And you could see the shape of the fields inside the material change. It’s a miniscule change, but on a quantum level, it has a major effect,” Charilaou explained.

The findings, he added, are the result of combining “cutting-edge, high-resolution imaging experiments” conducted by collaborators at the Jülich Research Center in Germany, who relied on electron microscopy and holography. Micromagnetic simulations were conducted at �ǿ����޴�ý Lafayette.

Results of the study were recently detailed in , a multidisciplinary journal that publishes natural sciences research.

“Of scientific importance is that we have a better understanding of the process and the phenomenon; the more application-oriented importance is the ability to extrapolate those results,” Charilaou said.

That means many things, including the potential for technological and manufacturing advances related to, for example, the development and construction of magnetized sensors.

That’s no small consideration, since such sensors are essential for the function of everything from jets and automobiles to microwave ovens and smart phones. “There are probably about 100 magnets within 20 yards of you at any given time,” Charilaou said.

Learn more about the scientists’ research and read their full journal article .

Photo caption: Dr. Michalis Charilaou, of the Department of Physics, joined an international team of scientists who studied the effect of tensile strain, or stretching, on magnetized materials. The researchers’ findings carry the potential for technological and manufacturing advances related to magnetized sensors. Image credit: �ǿ����޴�ý