Materials World Network: Local Structure, Function and the Exotic Iroperties of Transition Metal Perovskites

该项目旨在在伊利诺伊理工学院（IIT）、印度科学培养协会（IACS）和印度加尔各答的S.N. Bose国家基础科学中心的研究团队之间开展长期的国际合作研究和教育工作。研究重点是探讨局部结构对复合氧化物物理性质的影响。这类材料表现出许多有趣的现象，例如，耦合结构转变和集体电子效应，如金属-绝缘体转变，低温下的相分离和多铁性行为。这项研究合作旨在解决样品质量的重要问题，这往往导致矛盾的结果；控制样品质量对于理解明显不同的物理行为非常重要。该项目的具体目标包括：在美国和印度实验室合成和表征这些复杂氧化物的高质量样品；光电子能谱法测定电子性质Argonne国家实验室先进光子源同步辐射x射线衍射和吸收光谱局部结构测量；并产生高影响力的科学和技术成果，以及使用理论工具理解多体相互作用。这些研究结果有望解决该领域的几个突出问题，并有助于更好地了解这些材料的基本性质，这些材料在数据处理和存储方面具有潜在的应用前景。此外，通过对合作实验室的长期访问，合作研究小组的互补专业知识为培养研究生和初级研究人员提供了理想的机会。参加这些交流的学生和初级研究人员将获得技术专长，并将发展国际合作，这将有利于他们的职业生涯。高级光子源的材料研究协作访问团队的初级印度研究人员将接受培训，为他们在印度同步加速器源的开发和使用中发挥领导作用做好准备。在该项目中纳入暑期印度理工学院本科生实习生，旨在为他们提供在国际环境下的动手科研经验，并通过研究生学习为他们提供就业机会。该奖项由数学与物理科学理事会材料研究部和国际科学与工程办公室联合资助。非洲、近东和南亚项目。

This project is designed to develop a long-term international collaborative research and education effort among research teams at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) and S.N. Bose National Center for Basic Sciences, in Kolkota, India. The research focuses on investigating the influence of local structure on the physical properties of complex oxides. This class of materials exhibit many interesting phenomena, for example, coupled structural transitions and collective electronic effects such as metal-insulator transitions, phase separation at low temperatures, and multiferroic behavior. This research collaboration intends to address the important issue of sample quality, which often leads to contradictory results; controlling sample quality is important to understand the manifestly different physical behavior. The specific objectives of the project include: synthesis and characterization of high quality samples of these complex oxides in both the US and Indian laboratories; determination of the electronic properties using photoelectron spectroscopies; measurement of local structure using x-ray diffraction and absorption spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory; and generation of high impact scientific and technological results along with an understanding of many-body interactions using theoretical tools. The results of these studies are expected to resolve several outstanding questions in this field and contribute to a better understanding of the fundamental properties of these materials, which are promising candidates for potential applications in data manipulation and storage. Furthermore, the complementary expertise of the collaborating research groups provides an ideal opportunity to train graduate students and junior researchers through extended visits to the collaborating laboratories. The students and junior researchers who participate in these exchanges will gain technical expertise and will develop international collaborations, which will benefit their careers. Training gained by junior Indian researchers at the Materials Research Collaborative Access Team beamline of the Advanced Photon Source, will prepare them to take leadership roles in the development and use of the synchrotron source in India. Inclusion of summer IIT undergraduate student interns in the project is designed to provide hands-on scientific research experience in an international setting and expose them to career opportunities through graduate studies. This award is jointly funded by the Division of Materials Research in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and the Office of International Science and Engineering ?Africa, Near East & South Asia Program.