Condensed Matter Seminars

The Center for Materials Research at Norfolk State University supports a number of efforts in materials science and technology. In addition to the surface science and micro-characterization at the Applied Research Center at JLab, there are programs in free electron laser materials processing, laser spectroscopy, NMR, ESR, polymers and organic thin films. An overview of some of these research efforts will be given. In more detail, work on the Colossal Magnetoresistance (CMR) manganites will be presented. These are materials that exhibit both ferromagnetic and metallic behavior below a critical temperature, but are paramagnetic insulators above. The mechanisms of conduction and ferromagnetism in thin films will be presented and related to the structure of these materials at the atomic level. Proposed uses for these materials include read-write heads and as bolometric detectors