Principal Investigator Joseph Checkelsky
Rare earth electronics are electronics made from the rare earth elements -- compounds that are vital to many manufacturing processes and products, thanks to their unusual material properties.
In the field of electronics itself, they have been less impactful. Part of the reason for that is how challenging rare earths are to work with. The large number of interacting electrons in these systems makes their behavior difficult to predict and understand. Many of these compounds are also so volatile that they rapidly degrade when exposed to air.
Checkelsky seeks to tame the rare earths by constructing a device to create and study them, measuring the materials’ properties while keeping them from ever touching air.