CAREER award aids Enders' nanostructures research

It's fair to say Axel Enders is having a busy first year on the job.

Last August, Enders and his family moved from Germany, and he joined UNL as an assistant professor of physics. Just seven months later, he landed a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.

"I'm still in the process of realizing what a big deal this is," Enders said.

He will use his five-year, $404,000 award to study advanced magnetic nanostructures, which could be used in computer hard drives and other high-density data storage devices. By better understanding the functional properties of magnetic elements, engineers could make recording media that hold 10 to 100 times more data than current technologies, Enders said.

He also will organize a conference for undergraduate women in physics. His goal is to increase retention, recruit graduate students and provide networking opportunities at UNL.

Axel Enders Axel Enders
This is the sixth time in the past decade that someone from UNL's Department of Physics and Astronomy has won a CAREER award.

"That says something of the caliber of talent we're getting in our department," said Daniel Claes, department chair.

Enders' research area is so new that nobody makes equipment for it – so he's building his own. To continue improving storage capacity, scientists must better understand the electronic and magnetic properties of nanostructures at the atomic level.

The key is to prepare material samples in an ultra-high vacuum chamber that Enders describes as "a space station in reverse." Unlike the environments created for astronauts, Enders' low-pressure chamber excludes all oxygen, which would create a chemical reaction that changes the nanostructure’s properties. In a second chamber that he devised, a low-temperature microscope scans over the surface of the nanostructure and makes the atoms visible.

Claes said this dual-chamber instrument is generating substantial interest among researchers in the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience at UNL. The multidisciplinary center involves more than 75 faculty members from the University of Nebraska system.

Building these unique instruments would be extremely challenging for most researchers. Enders has a leg up on this task. He's the rare physicist who is also a machinist. Born and raised in Germany, he spent three years attending a trade school as an apprentice while he also studied for his university qualification exams.

"Becoming a physicist was always my dream," he said. "But I thought it (trade school) was useful. I knew if physics didn’t work out, I could always go back to the company and work."

Luckily for UNL, Enders fulfilled his dream. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Martin Luther University in Halle, Germany. Most recently, he was a staff scientist with the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics at his alma mater.

Now he and his wife, Susan, are happy to be getting settled in Lincoln with their 1-year-old daughter, Kimberly. Susan Enders is a research assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Mechanics.

"I'm really excited to be here," he said. "The university is a great place and the physics department has a great reputation. That's the main reason why I decided to come here."


    




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