Drawn by Dr. Charlie Ludlow, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Materials at high pressure
Drawn by Dr. Charlie Ludlow, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Queen's
University, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Modern techniques of controlled materials synthesis and advances in measurement and modeling have made clear that "multiscale complexity" is intrinsic to complex electronic materials, both organic and inorganic. A unified approach to classes of these materials is urgently needed, requiring interdisciplinary input from chemistry, materials science and solid state physics. Only in this way can they be controlled and exploited for increasingly stringent demands of technology. The spatial and temporal complexity is driven by strong, often competing, couplings between spin, charge and lattice degrees of freedom which determine "structure-function" relationships. The nature of these couplings is a sensitive function of electron-electron, electron-lattice and spin-lattice interactions; noise and disorder, external fields (magnetic, optical, pressure, etc.); and dimensionality. Thus understanding and controlling the relationships between these influences is the key to a golden future of electronic materials and their applications.
At CSU we have developed a unique device for the simultaneous application of uniaxial stress and hydrostatic pressure which will allow us to apply "pure" uniaxial strain to anisotropic materials and to tune dimensionality in low dimensional electronic materials in a controlled way. In addition, we have various types of large volume high pressure cells as well as sapphire and diamond anvil cells available for optical and transport measurements in a magnetic field and over a wide temperature range. A cryostat for the transport measurements, as well as facilities for Raman and Brillouin scattering and absorption measurements are also available.
As mentioned above we emphasize interdisciplinary research. The members of the group are expected to cooperate with chemists and material scientists and to spend time in other laboratories with which we cooperate. I am not interested in a large group, but I am always looking for a few good collaborators, in particular graduate students, who are interested in interdisciplinary group work and believe in the benefits of hard work and the resulting joy of their successes.
H. D. Hochheimer, Invited talk at the ROCAM 2000
(Romanian Conference on Advanced Materials)
Bucharest, Romania, October 23-25, 2000
Review article: H. D. Hochheimer, What can we learn from High Pressure Studies ?, J. Optoelectr. And Advanced Mat. 2, 13 (2000)
Dieter Hochheimer and Jennifer Burris in the Raman Laboratory
Ana Kanevce and Ignacio Hernandez
Caleb Blissett
Jennifer Burris in the Raman Laboratory
Device for the simultaneous application of hydrostatic pressure and uniaxial stress together with the adjustment for optical measurements. The adjustment device has been designed and fabricated by Christian Graf.
Adjustment device for optical measurements using the new device for the simultaneous application of hydrostatic pressure and uniaxial stress