Prof. Moshe Paz-Pasternak
Tel Aviv University

Date: Dec. 7, 2008

Title: Discovery of a new configuration of magnetite; a prospect for
improving the bionavigation of bacteria, birds, fishes, and perhaps of
homo sapiens

Abstract:

On the journey of disentangling the dilemma of the Verwey-Mott
transition in magnetite, Fe3O4, a ferrimagnetic-metal mineral at
ambient conditions, a new configuration has been discovered with a
normal spinel structure with 50% larger magnetic field.

Experiments were carried out at varying pressure and temperatures
using the methods of x-ray diffraction at synchrotron facilities and
Mössbauer spectroscopy. Our recent studies led to the elucidation of
the origin of the Verwey-Mott transition, a metal-insulator
conversion. The unrelated, serendipitous discovery of the
normal-spinel configuration may lead to the enhancement of
bionavigational signal as well as more sensitive magnetite substrates
in thin films technology and in nanomagnetism.