UNSW@ADFA Physics Seminars 2007

Everyone welcome !

Seminars are usually over 40 minutes plus questions, on Friday mornings, 11:10 - 12:00 in Room P25 on the ground floor of PEMS South (Building 26 on the campus map) unless otherwise stated. Light refreshments served from 11am.

A link to the 2006 program and 2005 program of Physics Seminars is placed here for those interested in looking at last years' activities.

Next Seminar:

Friday 23 March

Examples of "Neutrons and Numerical Methods"
Speaker: Professor Gordon J. Kearle,
Research Leader at  the Bragg Institute, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation

There is now a number of comparatively "simple to use" programs available to calculate the structure, dynamics and other properties of materials, these being used by scientists from wide range of scientific disciplines. The obvious examples are empirical force-field methods that are commonly used for molecular dynamics simulations, and quantum-chemistry methods to obtain structure and electronic properties. Neutron-scattering measures the positions and velocities of the atomic nuclei directly and this makes it particularly easy to compare the results of calculations above with the experimental neutron-scattering data. Over the past 10 years or so this has lead to the concept of "Neutrons and Numerical Methods". This approach links the experimental data with structure and dynamics at the atomic scale, and this makes understanding the results of neutron scattering experiments much easier by removing the many steps and theory required by the traditional analytical approach. I will provide a very short overview of the scope of the various common methods of neutron scattering and simulation. I will then go on to show examples of work in powder diffraction, magnetism, and polymer dynamics, covering applications in solar-cell, and hydrogen storage materials. My intention is to show how these methods can now be routinely applied to many problems in chemistry, physics and materials science, without explicitly requiring a detailed knowledge of the neutron scattering physics.

Friday 9 March

Speaker: Klaus D.Becker, Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Braunschweig University of Technology
Presently: Visiting Fellow at School of PEMS, UNSW@ADFA, Canberra

"Spectroscopic Studies into the Reactivity of Solids"

The talk will report on the research going on in the field of physical chemistry of solids in the Solid State Chemistry Group at IPTC. The focus is on spectroscopic studies performed at high temperatures where solid state processes actually occur. Such in-situ studies will for example provide information of the kinetics of reactions, as e.g. in the case of the formation of iron nitrides investigated by Mössbauer spectroscopy. Optical spectroscopy has been used to study redox processes in several nitrogen containing oxides or the defect-related redox kinetics of transition metal containing olivines. The latter work is complemented by electrical conductivity studies at high temperatures. Another recent temperature dependent optical study shows clear indications of vibronic coupling of f-f transitions in Holmium doped stabilised Zirconia. The development of a new generation digital PAC (perturbed - angular correlation) spectrometer will open new future research directions.

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Seminar Convenor:
(any comments or suggestions welcome)

Dr John Taylor
ph: +61 2 6268 8813
Fax: + 61 2 6268 8786
email: j.taylor@adfa.edu.au