Lech Tomasz Baczewski
Lech Tomasz Baczewski
Professor
Head of magnetic heterostructures group, Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Research Field: Magnetization switching in ferromagnetic thin film Induced by adsorbed chiral helical molecules
Since 1980 employed at the Institute of Physics Polish Academy of Sciences. Scientific interests: exchange interactions in rare-earths- transition metals thin films and multilayers, spin reorientation transition in magnetic Co based nanostructures – tailoring of magnetic properties, interface related magnetic phenomena studied by Polarized Neutron Reflectivity and Xray Magnetic Circular Dichroism – induced magnetic moment, magnetic and structural studies of Co nanotubes grown on ZnTe nanowires template. Nanomagnetism – magnetic anisotropy in ultra-thin Co nanostructures depending on type of buffer
Coordinator of the Polish Scientific Network SPINLAB “Magnetic Nanostructures for Applications in Spintronics” established in 2006, acknowledged by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
Interplay of chirality and magnetism – new phenomena at the frontier of physics and chemistry
L.T. Baczewski
Institute of Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Chirality plays a critical role in a wide range of systems, from biology and chemistry to condensed matter physics and high energy physics. We have demonstrated a new effect of magnetization switching of ferromagnetic thin film without applying a magnetic or electric field but being induced solely by adsorption of chiral molecules. The direction of the magnetization depends on the handedness of the adsorbed chiral molecules. Another important result was to propose a new method of enantio-separation based on the interaction of chiral molecules with a perpendicularly magnetized substrate. It was shown that one enantiomer adsorbs preferentially when the magnetic dipole is pointing up, whereas the other adsorbs faster for the opposite magnetization alignment. Moreover the interaction is not controlled by the magnetic field but by the respective electron spin orientations of the ferromagnetic layer and chiral molecules. This method is versatile as it was tested for different kinds of chiral molecules and allows to avoid costly separation columns which has to be designed individually for a given type of chiral molecules used presently in the pharmaceutical industry.