Basel Universität
Departement für Physik
Departement für Physik

Prof. Dr. Frithjof Nolting

Titularprofessor of Nanoscience
PSI Professorship at the University of Basel

Swiss Nanoscience Institute (SNI) and
Department of Physics
University of Basel
Klingelbergstrasse 82
4056 Basel
Switzerland

Group Leader Microscopy and Magnetism
Paul Scherrer Institut
WSLA 120
5232 Villigen PSI

Switzerland
Office at PSI: WSLA 120
direct phone: ++41 (0)56 310 5111
fax: ++41 (0)56 310 5111
e-mail:
web-page: http://people.web.psi.ch/nolting/


Short Biography

Frithjof Nolting received his Diploma in Physics at the University of Braunschweig in 1994, studying heavy fermion systems at low temperatures and high pressures, and his PhD in Physics at the University of Zürich in 1998, determining the gravitational constant supervised by Prof. Walter Kündig. In 1999 he started his work on magnetism at the nanoscale joining the group of Prof. Joachim Stöhr, Stanford University, and worked at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), Berkeley, and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). In 2001 he started working at the Swiss Light Source (SLS) and became in 2006 the group leader of the Microscopy and Magnetism group. In 2009 he was promoted to be a Titularprofessor at the University of Basel. Frithjof Nolting is member of the EU Marie Curie Initial Training Network Fantomas, the EU Collaborative Project Ultramagnetron, associate member of MaNEP and member of the NCCR Nanoscale Science.



Research Summary

Exploring the world of reduced dimensions in solid state physics is a challenging and rewarding research area. When the dimensions reach the nanometer scale, surface, quantum mechanical and thermodynamic properties that are insignificant on macroscopic scales dominate more and more, resulting in new and interesting properties. In our work, we investigate the magnetic properties of nanoscale systems. Starting with systems where one dimension is on the nanoscale such as thin-film systems, and structuring them into "2D-nanosystems" we arrive at a system where all three dimensions are on the nanoscale: nanocrystals. Our current major research topics are opto-magnetism, spectroscopy of single nanomagnets, magnetization dynamics, artificially frustrated systems and artificial multiferroics. The measurements are performed static and time resolved with a pump-probe set-up and the primary investigation technique is polarization-dependent spectromicroscopy at the Swiss Light Source (SLS) which enables the element specific imaging of ferro- and antiferromagnetic domains in heterostructures. Furthermore, we are developing new instruments and are operating two beamlines at the SLS.



Selected Publications

  1. E. Mengotti, L. J. Heyderman, A. Fraile Rodríguez, A. Bisig, L. Le Guyader, F. Nolting, and H-B. Braun, Building blocks of an artificial Kagome spin ice: Photoemission electron microscopy of arrays of ferromagnetic islands, Phys. Rev. B78, 144402 (2008).
  2. S. Czekaj, F. Nolting, L.J. Heyderman, P.W. Willmott, and G. van der Laan, Spin dependence of the x-ray magnetic linear dichroism on the antiferromagnetic spin axis in LaFeO3 thin films, Phys. Rev. B73, 020401R (2006).
  3. H. Ohldag, A. Scholl, F. Nolting, E. Arenholz, S. Maat, A.T. Young, M. Carey, and J. Stöhr, Correlation between Exchange Bias and Pinned Interfacial Spins, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 017203 (2003).
  4. F. Nolting, A. Scholl, J. Stöhr, J.W. Seo, J. Fompeyrine, H. Siegwart, J.-P. Locquet, S. Anders, J. Lüning, E.E. Fullerton, M.F. Toney, M.R. Scheinfein, and H.A. Padmore, Direct observation of the alignment of ferromagnetic spins by antiferromagnetic spins, Nature 405, 767 (2000).
  5. A. Scholl, J. Stöhr, J. Lüning, J.W. Seo, J. Fompeyrine, H. Siegwart, J.-P Locquet, F. Nolting, S. Anders, E.E. Fullerton, M.R. Scheinfein, and H.A. Padmore, Observation of antiferromagnetic domains in epitaxial thin films, Science 287, 1014 (2000).