The Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series presents Serge Nakhmanson of the University of Connecticut on “Computational Design of Multifunctional Complex-oxide Materials Across Length Scales” on Friday, March 21, at 4:10 p.m. in Walter 245.
Nakhmanson, who describes himself as a “digital alchemist” is an Ohio University alum. He earned a Ph.D. in Physics in 2001.
Serge Nakhmanson
Abstract: Compared to their parent ABO3 provskite compounds, layered oxides possess a number of additional channels for property manipulation and fine-tuning that could be exploited to design new functional materials and nanostructures. Utilizing first-principles-based computational techniques, we study and predict intriguing behavior in a variety of epitaxial layered-perovskite compounds, including Goldstone-like excitations, incommensurate structural distortions and affinity for molecular absorption.
We could also distill the results of first-principles computations into simple energy expressions that can be used to study mesoscale-level behavior of nano- and microstructures made out of these functional compounds. For conducting such simulations we are developing a highly scalable real-space finite-element code (Ferret) that can treat systems with coupled polar and elastic degrees of freedom. This computational approach is built on MOOSE, Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment that is being developed at Idaho National Laboratory. In this presentation we will provide an overview of our approach and some examples of applications we are working on in collaboration with experimental groups.
Upcoming Spring 2014 Events
Colloquia are held in the Walter Hall, Room 245, on Fridays at 4:10 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
Maxim Pospelov of the University of Waterlooon “Constraining the Dark Sector with BBN and CMB physics” on Friday, March 28, at 4:10 p.m. in Walter 245.
Jennifer Dionne of Stanford University on “Visualizing chemical reactions and light-matter interactions with nanometer-scale resolution” on Friday, April 4, at 4:10 p.m. in Walter 245.
Robert Austin of Princeton University on “Spatial evolutionary game of cancer: Applying Physics to Cancer” on Friday, April 11, at 4:10 p.m. in Walter 245.
Nick Wu of the West Virginia University on “Plasmon-Enhanced Solar Energy Harvesting” on Friday, April 18, at 4:10 p.m. in Walter 245.
Departmental Awards Gathering on Friday, April 25, at 4:10 p.m. in Walter 245.
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