The Effects of Disorder and Defects in Interesting and Useful Materials

为复杂的现代社会服务的技术越来越依赖于新材料的发现和/或创造。 这些新材料的有趣特性通常取决于缺陷和无序的存在。 特别是最近的研究表明，在室温下具有铁磁性质的稀磁半导体Ge_（1-x）Mn_x，在今后几年中，我们将把重点放在它的研究上，并将其与传统的硅基电子学集成。 我们也将开始研究陶瓷介电氧化物，它可能用作无线通信的微波谐振器。 拟议的研究计划的一个重要成果将是培养学生制备潜在有用的陶瓷和薄膜，使用广泛使用的重要探针，如X射线衍射，能量色散X射线光谱，磁力测量，电输运和红外光谱，很好地表征它们。 有了这样的经验，学生将很好地为先进材料行业做出贡献。 已经与西安大略大学的Tandetron加速器实验室和布罗克豪斯材料研究所的几个小组建立了合作关系，以补充内部研究。

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.