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An article by CNAM PhD candidate Daniel Campbell was published and chosen as an Editor's Suggestion in Phys. Rev. B. Campbell's synthesis of single crystals of binary FeAs, a spin density wave antiferromagnet with similarities to two families of unconventional superconductors, achieved the highest quality materials known to date, facilitating the first ever measurements of quantum oscillations in this system. Comparing experimental electronic structure to density functional theory calculations, the report addresses how the failure of theory to describe the magnetic structure of this compound may be tied to moderate correlations that have not been previously taken into account. This work is published in Phys. Rev. B.
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CNAM's new 20 Tesla superconducting magnet system is now operational, having undergone installation and testing very recently. This adds to our facilities list one of only a handful of such superconducting magnets in the United States outside of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratories in Tallahassee and Los Alamos, and one of about twenty around the world. The new 20 T system, built by Oxford Instruments, also completes the formation of our new Extreme Quantum Environments Laboratory (EQEL). Supervised by CNAM Director Johnpierre Paglione, the EQEL facility allows researchers to perform quantum materials experiments at the extremes of temperature, magnetic field and pressure. In particular, synchronizing ultra-low temperature refrigeration to reach as low as 6 milliKelvin (6 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero), ultra-high diamond anvil cell apparatus to reach above megabar (1 million atmospheres) pressures, and ultra-high magnetic fields of 20 T (about 500,000 times the earth's field), the EQEL facility allows us to probe extremes of nature that have never before been studied.
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CNAM member Efrain Rodriguez described new x-ray techniques for monitoring solid-state reactions at the first of a new series of workshops called "Physics NEXT" hosted by the editors of the Physical Review. Focused on materials design and discovery, this workshop brought together equal numbers of theorists and experimentalists to discuss collaborative approaches to synthesize new or improved quantum materials.
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Superconductors, materials that conduct electricity without resistance, are everywhere, though not as many places as we might like. But if these materials are so well known, why are physicists still studying them? NIST Physicist and CNAM member Nick Butch explains "The Magnetic Allure of Superconductivity" in the Taking Measure official blog of NIST.
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The W. J. Carr Lecture Series on Superconductivity and Advanced Materials was established by Dr. James L. Carr ‘ 89, and attracts some of the best researchers in this field each year. This year's distinguished Lecturer is Dr. Stuart Parkin, Director of the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics and Professor at the Institute of Physics of the University of Halle-Wittenberg. Parkin is a pioneer in the science and application of spintronic materials, and has made discoveries into the behavior of thin-film magnetic structures that were critical in enabling recent increases in the data density and capacity of computer hard-disk drives. For these discoveries, he was awarded the 2014 Millennium Technology Prize.
Prof. Parkin will present both a department colloquium and technical seminar.