Condensed Matter Physics Seminar

2 p.m., Thursday, October 5 2006
Room 1201, Physics Building

 Inverse Design of Surface-Based Nanostructures via Multiscale Modeling

Zhenyu Zhang

(Oak Ridge National Laboratory & University of Tennessee)

Abstract:  Multiscale modeling is gaining an increasingly important role in guiding the fabrication of artificially structured nanomaterials with atomic-scale precision and desirable physical properties. In this talk, a few recent examples will be presented to illustrate its predictive power in modern materials research. The modeling approaches range from electronic-scale calculations based on first principles to mesoscopic-scale continuum elasticity theory. Specific physical systems considered include: (a) fabrication of ordered magnetic atom wires on non-magnetic metal substrates; (b) quantum growth of atomically flat superconducting metal overlayers on semiconductor substrates; and (c) optimal dopant control in dilute magnetic semiconductors via "Subsurfactant Epitaxy". Emphasis will be made on the substantially improved structure-property relationships achieved through such synergistic efforts between theory and experiment, including in the last example the striking observation of magnetic ordering temperatures well above 300 K.
Host:  Einstein
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