Physics of Strong Disorder and Correlation

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9813764LeeThis award supports research and education in the area of strong correlations and disorder. Three problems will be considered: (1) The metal-to-insulator transition in two dimensions. A focus of research in this area is to take into account the role of strong interactions and disorder, and to ascertain the role of local moment formation in the metallic state near the transition. (2) The effect of non-magnetic impurities in spin 1/2 antiferromagnets for which quantum fluctuations are important. Of particular inspiration is the theoretical and experimental observation of a surprising purely quantum mechanical effect: long-range order induced by introducing impurities in ladder compounds. The PI inquires whether related phenomena occur in the two-dimensional spin 1/2 Heisenberg model, and plans to study the effect of disorder and of an external magnetic field. (3) The PI proposes to continue work on the effect of disorder in d-wave superconductors. %%%This award supports research on phenomena and ordered states (e.g. superconductivity) involving electrons that interact strongly with each other in materials that show significant random deviations from perfect crystalline order. The understanding of these phenomena are of fundamental importance and bears on a wide class of materials of potential importance to future device technologies that includes electrons trapped at interfaces between semiconductors, and high temperature superconductors and their relatives. This research activity provides for continued education of advanced students and post-graduates in state-of-the-art methods and concepts in the theory of solid state materials.***