The Dynamic Active Materials Laboratory was formed by Professor John P. Domann when he joined Virginia Tech in 2017. The lab's main emphasis is investigating the coupling of solid mechanics and electrodynamics in active material systems, including piezoelectric, magnetoelastic, and composite multiferroic structures. This work covers everything from creating analytical and numerical models to measuring fundamental material properties and developing devices that exploit the coupled behavior of these systems.
A key application area is the development of multiferroic / spintronic devices to exploit the energy efficiency provided by the strain mediated control of magnetism. The goal of this work is to displace state of the art electronic devices with magnetic analogs providing enhanced energy efficiency, speed, and stability.
A large current thrust in the lab is funded by the DARPA AMEBA program to create a magnetic antenna controlled by mechanical vibrations. This work is being completed in collaboration with researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Hughes Research Laboratory (HRL).