Intersite Coupling and Entropy in Correlated Electron Materials

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Non-Technical Abstract: Correlated electron materials have technical importance as functional materials with controllable electrical and magnetic properties. This project will provide a unified understanding, which does not now exist, of the inter-relation of structure and chemistry of such materials with their functional properties, to establish an effective route for the design of improved new functional materials. Undergraduate and graduate students will be trained in crystal growth and characterization of correlated electron materials, and in cross-disciplinary interactions with solid state chemists and in international collaborations.Technical Abstract: The low temperature physics of correlated electron materials is the physics of entropy release from strongly coupled electronic itinerant and local moment degrees of freedom. This project will show how the temperature scale for this release is determined by the structure and chemistry of the materials, establishing a new unified understanding extending from the f- into the transition metal intermetallic compounds, with consequent importance for the design of new functional materials. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained during this study in the crystal growth and characterization of new intermetallic materials and in cross-disciplinary interactions with solid state chemists and in international collaborations.