1. Condensed-Matter Physics & Materials Science Seminar

    "Microscopic engineering of complex oxide ground states"

    Presented by Derek Meyers, University of Arkansas

    Monday, June 29, 2015, 1:30 pm
    ISB Bldg. 734, Conf. Rm. 201 (upstairs)

    Hosted by: Mark Dean

    Transition metal oxides have come to the forefront of condensed matter research in the past several decades due to their highly diverse phase space and remarkable susceptibility to external tuning. This has lead to their prevalence in the pursuit of designer phases, i.e. room temperature superconductivity, topological phases, and etc. In this talk we explore several methods for engineering the ground state of these systems including "ordered doping", applied epitaxial strain, and superlattice heterostructuring in an effort to gain further insight into the microscopic origin of this tunability. We employ synchrotron based x-ray spectroscopy and resonant diffraction to elucidate the explicit origin of the observed anomalous behaviors. In particular, our results reveal the ability to mask the effects of spin-orbit coupling in heavier oxides and to suppress or enhance bulk phase transitions by design.