Department of Physics of Meso- and Nanocrystalline Magnetic Structures (No. 03)

Department Chair (acting) – D. Sc. Roman Verba

The Department includes Laboratory of Nanocrystalline Structures (No. 05)

Department history

In April 1997, the Department of Nanocrystalline Structures was established at the Institute of Magnetism, headed by Prof. Yuri I. Gorobets, Honored Scientist of Ukraine. The department’s primary objectives were to study the static and dynamic properties of polycrystalline magnetic materials and structures, as well as the relationship between structural (particularly surface) and magnetic properties of materials. Subsequently, the scope of research expanded to include the promising field of magnetoelectrochemistry.

In 2006, the Laboratory for Problems of Science Organization in Universities (No. 08) was established within the department, headed by Dr. Sergey Porev. The laboratory focused on studying the specific features of university science within Ukraine’s socio-economic, regulatory, and organizational contexts; investigating the exchange of cognitive material in entrepreneurial ecosystems; and developing approaches to reforming university science. This research area was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Also in 2006, the Laboratory of Nanocrystalline Structures (No. 05) was established within the department, headed by D. Sc. Mykola Krupa, and in 2011 — the Laboratory of Surface Physics (No. 07), headed by Dr. Dmytro Derecha.

During the reorganization in 2016, the department was renamed the Department of Physics of Meso- and Nanocrystalline Magnetic Structures, and it incorporated staff from the reorganized Department of Magnetostructural Transformations. Laboratories No. 05 and No. 07 were also merged. In 2024, due to the Institute’s transition from dual subordination to the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MESU) to subordination solely to NASU, Laboratory No. 08 and its research direction were closed.

During the Department’s existence, it was headed by:
Corr. Member of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine Yuri Gorobets (1997–2016)
Prof. Yurii Dzhezherya (2016–2021)
D. Sc. Roman Verba, (2021–2025; acting head since 2025 to present)

Research Activity

Reserch Directions

In general, throughout its history, the department’s activities have focused on research into fundamental problems in the physics of magnetic phenomena, as well as applied research and development on the use of magnetic phenomena and materials for the needs of electronics and computing, energy, and heavy industry; in this respect, its work largely aligns with the Institute’s overall focus. A distinctive feature of Department's work is its focus on multicomponent and heterogeneous materials, composites, and structures, as well as the study of magnetic phenomena in mesoscopic systems.

Primary fields of the department’s current research are:
– Study of spin waves in nanostructured magnetic materials, nonlinear spin-wave interactions, and magnetic solitons.
– Development of principles for constructing elements and systems of magnonic logic, analog spin-wave information processing systems, and non-Boolean systems, as well as elements and systems for magnetic data storage.
– Development of thermoelectric converters and other applications of magnetic materials in alternative energy.
– Investigation of magnetoelastic waves in bulk samples and heterostructures.

Previous research was also actively conducted in the following areas:
– Development and study of materials with specified thermoelastic and magnetoelastic properties based on multicomponent magnetically active elastomers.
– Investigation of the effect of a magnetic field on the structure and optical characteristics of paramagnetic liquid crystals, and the development of strain and magnetic field sensors based on liquid crystals.
– Investigation of structural transformations of surfaces under the influence of a magnetic field.

Principal R&D projects of the Department

Ongoing projects:
– NRFU grant No. 2025.07/0132 “High-speed nonlinear dynamics in nanoscale elements of magnonics and magnetoelectronics”;
– In-house project (fundamental) No. 0124U000270 "Physical principles of non-Boolean computing in magnon nanoelements";
– In-house project (applied) No. 0124U000558 "Low-power thermoelectric and magnetoelastic converters for power generation and cooling systems".

Acomplished projects:
– Horizon 2020 grant (H2020-MSCA-RISE) No. 778308 SPINMULTIFILM “Physical principles of the creation of novel SPINtronic materials on the base of MULTIlayered metal-oxide FILMs for magnetic sensors and MRAM”, 2018-2023;
– Horizon 2020 grant (H2020-MSCA-RISE) No. 644348 MagIC “Magnonics, Interactions and Complexity: a multifunctional aspects of spin wave dynamics”, 2015-2019.
– NAS of Ukraine grant for young researcher groups & laboratories in 2024-2025 No. 08/01-2024(5) "Controlling nonlinear processes in spintronic nanostructures".

Selected results:

– The effect of nonlinear suppression of interaction between magnon waveguides is predicted [read more]
– Observations of nonlocal spin wave damping in ferrite-paramagnet structures at low temperatures have been explained [read more]
– Methods for controlling three-magnon processes in magnetic nanostructures have been developed [read more]
– Observations of stable multimode generation in a spintronic nano-oscillator with parametric intermodal coupling have been explained [read more]

Staff

Chief Researcher, D. Sc. Mykola Krupa
Senior Researcher, D. Sc. Sergiy Konoplyuk
Senior Researcher, Dr. Larysa Kozlova
Senior Researcher, Dr. Sergiy Cherepov
Chief Researcher (part-time), Prof. Yurii Dzhezherya
Leading Researcher (part-time), Dr. Oleksandr Danylevych
Senior Researcher(part-time),Prof. Serhii Reshetniak
Senior Researcher (part-time), Dr. Viktoria Khist
PhD student Roman Teslia
PhD student Terentiy Hritsai
Engineer Halyna Nefedova