Materials Physics Research at Washington University

Materials physics involves studies of the structure and properties of materials, and materials processes, that are of technological and fundamental interest. Research in the Laboratory for Materials Physics, at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, focuses on :

(i) Investigations of the formation and structures of complex stable and metastable phases, including novel phases such as quasicrystals and metallic glasses
(ii) Experimental and theoretical investigations of nucleation processes in condensed systems.

Current research projects are listed below

Materials Physics Research Group Photo Outside of Compton Hall

Outside of Arthur Holly Compton Laboratory of Physics from left to right:
Kenneth Kelton, Liqian Xing, Van T. Huett, Joshia, Pengfei Wei, Patrick Gibbons, and Akito Takasaki
Not Pictured are: Anup Gangopadlhyay, Geun Woo Lee, and Ryan Rochat

Other Group Photos: Photo 1 - Photo 2

Personnel

Professors
Kenneth Kelton - Photo - kfk@wuphys.wustl.edu
Patrick Gibbons - Photo - pcg@wuphys.wuslt.edu

Visiting Professors
Akito Takasaki - Photo- takasaki@sic.shibaura-it.ac.jp

Research Scientists
Anup Gangopadhyay - Photo - anup@wuphys.wustl.edu
Liqian Xing - Photo - lqxing@hbar.wustl.edu

Graduate Research Assistants
Geun Woo Lee - Photo - geunwlee@hbar.wustl.edu
Van T. Huett - Photo - vthuett@artsci.wustl.edu
Pengfei Wei - Photo - wpf@hbar.wustl.edu

Undergraduates
Ryan Rochat - Photo - rhrochat@hotmail.com

Previous Students

Research Projects

Ti/Zr/Hf Quasicrystals and Crystal Approximants - Formation, structure, and phase transformations for metastable quasicrystals, the stable Ti41.5Zr41.5Ni17 icosahedral phase, and 1/1 and 3/2 rational approximant phases.

Hydrogen Storage in Ti/Zr/Hf Quasicrystals - Storage capacity, kinetics, and equilibrium vapor pressure studies, yielding site distribution energies and pointing to possible technological applications.

Quasi-Crystalline Undercooled Alloys for Space Investigation (QUASI) - Studies of the nucleation of polytetrahedral phases and physical property measurements of TiZr-based liquids on the International Space Station, ground-based electrostatic (ESL) and electromagnetic levitation studies, and synchrotron studies (APS) of levitated liquids.

Crystallization of Al-based and Zr-based metallic glasses - Formation of nano-structured amorphous/crystal composites upon crystallization.

Heterogeneous Nucleation - Heterogeneous nucleation on nanoparticles of controlled size and surface chemistry.

Theoretical modeling of oxygen precipitation in Czochralski silicon - Quantitative studies of the time-dependent nucleation rate of oxygen in silicon assuming diffusion-limited nucleation.

Equipment

Preparation

Characterization

Computation

Current Collaborators

**Quasicrystals**
Natalie Adolphi nadolphi@knox.edu	NMR Studies of Quasicrystals (with and without hydrogen)
Uwe Köster koester@Chemietechnik.Uni-Dortmund.DE	Hydrogenation and Crystallization Studies of Zr-Based Metallic Glasses
Robert Leisure LEISURE@LAMAR.COLOSTATE.EDU	Elastic Constant Measurements of Quasicrystals (with and without hydrogen)
Andrew McDowell amcdowel@knox.edu	NMR Studies of Quasicrystals (with and without hydrogen)
Anne Sadoc sadoc@lure.u-psud.fr	EXAFS Studies of Quasicrystals (with and without hydrogen)
Akito Takasaki takasaki@sic.shibaura-it.ac.jp	Hydrogen Storage in Quasicrystals

**Undercooling, Physical Property and Structural Studies of TiZrNi Liquids**
Dieter Herlach dieter.herlach@dlr.de	Undercooling of Quasicrystals
Dirk Holland-Moritz Dirk.Holland-Moritz@dlr.de	Undercooling Studies of rf-Levitated TiZrNi Liquids
Robert Hyers Robert.Hyers@msfc.nasa.gov	Viscosity and Specific Heat Measurements of Electrostatically Levitated TiZrNi Liquids
Shankar Krishnan Shankar.Krishnan@kla-tencor.com	Synchrotron X-Ray Structural Studies of TiZrNi Liquids
Mike Robinson mike.robinson@msfc.nasa.gov	Electrostatic Levitation Studies of TiZrNi Liquids – Undercooling and X-ray Structural Studies
Jan Rogers Jan.Rogers@msfc.nasa.gov	Electrostatic Levitation Studies of TiZrNi Liquids – Undercooling and X-ray Structural Studies

**Nucleation in Glasses**
William Buhro buhro@wuchem.wustl.edu	Heterogeneous nucleation on Nanoparticles of Tailored Structure and Chemistry
Lindsay Greer alg13@hermes.cam.ac.uk	Modeling of nucleation in condensed systems
Krishna Rajan rajank@rpi.edu	TEM Investigations of Nucleation in Metallic Glasses

**Oxygen Precipitation**
Robert Falster rfalster@memc.it	Oxygen Precipitation in CZ-Silicon

Funding Organizations

	AFOSR - Air Force Office of Scientific Research
	NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
	MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc
	NSF - National Science Foundation