The Effects of Disorder and Defects in Interesting and Useful Materials

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The technology that serves complex modern societies depends to an increasing degree on the discovery and or creation of new materials. The interesting properties of these new materials often depend on the presence of defects and disorder. In particular, we will focus for the next few years on the dilute magnetic semiconductor Ge_(1-x)Mn_x which recent research suggests is ferromagnetic at room temperature and may be integrated with conventional silicon-based electronics. We will also begin studies of ceramic dielectric oxides that may find use as microwave resonators for wireless communications. An important result of the proposed research program will be the training of students to prepare potentially useful ceramics and thin films, to characterize them very well them using widely used and important probes such as x-ray diffraction, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, magnetometry, electrical transport and infrared spectroscopy. With such experience, students will be well-placed to contribute to advanced materials industries. Collaborations have been established with the Tandetron Accelerator Lab at the University of Western Ontario and with several groups at the Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research to supplement the in-house studies.