News
and Events -
Computational Materials
Physics Group at SIU
Carbondale
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April 2014 - Congratulations
Jaime!!,
the First PhD defended from the
Computatonal Materials Physics Group at
SIU Carbondale. (Thushari Jayasekera
co-chaired Jaime's Thesis Committee with
Prof. Mark Byrd). Jaime's PhD thesis is on
"Phonon Engineering of Low-Dimensional
Nanostructures for Thermoelectric
Applications".
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March 2014 - Workshop on
Symmetry Prof.
Alan Schoen gave a memorable guest
lecture to the Group Members and students
in the Solid State Physics Class.
- High Performance
Computer Simulations to understand the
properties of materials are possible only
because they are highly complemented by the
symmetry of the materials and application of
group theory.
Prof.
Schoen is one of the pioneers of some
symmetry groups in crystallography.We were
fortunate to have him talked to us
about symmetry. We learnt that,
wonderful inventions come out from dedicated
work. His work is absolutely fascinating!!
His geometric puzzles are challenging!!
On top of every thing, his talk
was full of stories about legendary
scientists and his wonderful
expereinces... Following
pictures speak about our experience in
this wonderful work shop. Thank
you so much Prof.
Schoen !!
- March 2014 - We were at APS,
Denver Colorado !!!
- Three Presentations (byJaime, Hansika
and Erika) at APS March Meeting. Great Job
Guys! Many Congratulations !!! Let's work
hard for more results!!
- Thushari Jayasekera chaired a session, A
37: Epitaxial Graphene on SiC.
- Thushari Jayasekera also co-organized
the graphene focus session (co-organized
with Dr. Kurt Gaskill from Naval Research
Laboratory), Also Many Thanks to Dr. Zak
Robinson for Major supports thorugh out.
- January 2014 - Female Undergraduate
Students attended Midwest CuWiP
Thushari Jayasekera and April Hendley
attended the Conference for Undergraduate
Women in Physics at University of Chicago,
with two undergraduate Students, Juliana
Richie and Hilary Packard. Juliana Richie
presented a poster on her research done on
"Characterization of Graphene", which was
carried out under the guidance of Prof. S.
Talapatra. The group acknowledges the
travel support through Center for
Undergraduate Research and the Department
of Physics at SIU Carbondale.
- December 2013 - APS Abstract Sorting
Thushari Jayasekera attended the Abstract
Sorting Meeting for APS March Meeting at
American Institute for Physics at College
Park MD.... Fantastic Experience!!! Many
Thanks to Dr. Zak Robinson (NRL) and Dr.
Masha Ishigami (Central Florida) not only
for making it successful, but also for
making it a fun experience. Hope we get to
sort abstratcts together again....
- November 2013 - Vsiting University
of North Texas
Thushari Jayasekera was invited to give a
Seminar at the Department of Physics,
University of North Texas. She spent 3
days with the group Prof. M. B.
Nardelli. Very productive time. Thanks
Marco!!
- November 2013 - Congratulations to
Hansika and Jaime for their first
Publication Link
Ge cages at the
SiC/graphene interface: A first
principles calculation
Hansika Sirikumara, Jaime
Bohorquez, Thushari Jayasekera
Abstract:
Using the first principles density
functional theory calculations, we
investigated the effect of Ge
atoms on the electronic and
structural properties of epitaxial
graphene on the Si-face of SiC. We
considered both the substituted Ge
atoms and intercalated multilayers
of Ge at the interface. Starting
with Ge3 clusters, we
introduce one to six monolayers
(ML) of Ge at the interface. Our
first-principles density
functional theory (DFT)
calculations find that, when there
are more than four ML, the
periodicity of the most stable
atomistic configuration of Ge
atoms in between the buffer layer
and the SiC substrate is
influenced by the periodicity of
the substrate underneath, as well
as the periodicity of the
honeycomb array of C atoms on the
top. Two distinct Ge cages are
formed which are merged in to each
other. As a result of the
intercalation, the buffer layer
decouples from the substrate
converting it to graphene. Within
the scope of our calculations, we
found electron-doped graphene with
Ge intercalation.
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- October 2013 - Free Lunch Physics
Ladies !! Physics
Department genorously sponsors a Women's
lunch. This is the second of such annual
events. It was wonderful to chit-chat with
girls in Physics. We also spent few
minuites to talk about future
opportunities for female physicists,
upcoming women's conference, getting
involved in undergraduate research etc.
Thanks to Erika Putz and Hilary Packard
for organizing this event.
August
2012 - July 2013
- April 2013 - Congratulations
Erika!!! Erika
Putz won the first place at the SIU
Undergraduate Research Symposium. She
presented her results from High
Performance Computer Simulations on
"Band Engineering of graphene by
controlled chemical doping". Way to go
Erika!! Thanks for making us proud!!!
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