Seminars

One of the best ways to expand your knowledge is to attend seminars, preferably in a variety of topics. Faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students are highly encouraged to attend our weekly seminars, and also seminars given in other departments (e.g., Chemistry or Biology). Unless otherwise noted, the PAMS department seminars are held on

Thursdays at 4:00 p.m., in Kemper Hall, room 206.

Fall 2019 Seminar Schedule

Date Speaker Title
Aug. 22 1st week of classes: No seminar
Aug. 29

Rajan Khadka
MSU PAMS Graduate Student

 Study of Amorphous Boron Carbide (a-BxC) Materials using Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Hybrid Reverse Monte Carlo (HRMC)
Muztoba Rabbani
MSU PAMS Graduate Student		 Development of Multicomponent EAM Potential for Ni Based SuperAlloy
Sep. 5

Hayley Sohn
University of Colorado Boulder

Active Liquid Crystal Skyrmions

Note: Hayley is a former MSU student, and will hold an informal session (2:30 p.m. in Kemper 101M) with students to discuss the PhD process and her experience. Anyone interested in graduate school is encouraged to attend and chat with Hayley.
Abstract: The coexistence of order and fluidity in soft condensed matter often mimics that found in biological cells, which allows for complex collective dynamics and highly technological applications, like displays and sensors. In active soft matter, different forms of emergent order can even arise because of the out-of-equilibrium dynamic behavior, powered by local energy conversion. We show that this emergent ordering can mimic behavior of familiar living systems with coherent motion, like crowds of people and schools of fish. Most active matter systems are biological in origin, although the discovery of inanimate, purely synthetic particles capable of such emergent behavior would enable new breeds of materials and nanomachines. Such examples are limited, typically with chemical or mechanical agitation sources of energy.
     Here we show that millions of particle-like topological solitons, dubbed “skyrmions”, can exhibit collective dynamics when each converting macroscopically supplied electric energy into motion along spontaneously selected directions uncorrelated with the direction of electric field. We demonstrate that this motion emerges mainly from spatially asymmetric changes of director structures that evolve non-reciprocally upon the application and removal of an electric field, so that the periodic modulation of an applied field yields net translational motion of solitons. Uniquely to our system, the emergent orderly motion and giant number fluctuations in “schools” of liquid crystal skyrmions, generated at large number densities, are tuned by the inter-skyrmion cohesion that stems from the orientational elasticity of the chiral nematic host. We uncover how liquid crystal skyrmions convert electric energy into motion and self-organize into various types of clusters and chains, moving together like dynamic schools that exhibit a tunable crossover of active matter behavior and promise many technological uses.
Sep. 12 Sabila Kader Pinky
MSU PAMS Graduate Student		 Molecular Dynamics (MD) Study of Creep Deformation in Ni-based Superalloy
Sep. 19 Moudip Nandi
MSU PAMS Graduate Student		 Synthesis and Characterization of Oxide Carbide Core Shell Nano Particles
Joy Roy
MSU PAMS Graduate Student		 Fabrication of CFO@C Core/Shell Nanoparticles by Laser Ablation
Sep. 26 Abdullah Shafe
MSU PAMS Graduate Student		 Structural and Magnetic Properties of NiO@MnxNi1-xO Core-Shell Nanoparticles Synthesized at Varying pH Values
Sinjan Majumder
MSU PAMS Graduate Student		 Development of a CVD Assisted PLD System for Growing Thin Films
Oct. 3 Dr. Alexander Kozhanov
Georgia State University		 Spin Waves in Structured Ferromagnetic Materials

Abstract:  A current technology drive, directed toward future signal processing and logic devices, attempts to introduce spin degrees of freedom as an alternative, complement or companion to semiconductor charge based electronics. Magnonics aims at using spin waves to transfer and process information and have the potential for spin control without directly moving charge.
     In this talk I will review our experiments on spin wave propagation in ferromagnetic micro-structures and domain wall dynamics in ultrathin ferromagnetic heterostructures. I will also discuss the magnonic logic device operation and approach to its implementation.
Oct. 10 Fall holiday: No seminar

Oct. 16 (Wed.)

Dr. Lloyd Lumata
University of Texas Dallas

Hyperpolarized Magnetic Resonance: Enhancing NMR and MRI Signals by >10,000-fold for Real-Time Metabolic Assessment of Cancer
Note! This is a joint seminar with Chemistry, on Wednesday, 3:30 p.m., in Glass Hall 346.
Abstract: In vivo or in vitro nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and imaging (MRI) of nuclei other than proton is hampered by the low signal sensitivity due to the minute differences in spin populations between the nuclear Zeeman energy levels. Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) or hyperpolarization, an offshoot of a particle physics technology, has recently solved this insensitivity problem by amplifying the magnetic resonance signals of insensitive nuclei such as carbon-13 by 10,000-fold or higher. The trick is to transfer the high electron thermal polarization to the nuclear spins via microwave irradiation at low temperature (close to 1 K) and high magnetic field (> 1 T), then rapidly dissolve the frozen polarized samples into hyperpolarized liquids at physiologically tolerable temperature. In this talk, I will delve into the discussion of the physics, instrumentation and engineering aspects, optimization methods, and biomedical applications of the DNP technology. This cutting-edge physics technology is currently improving cancer diagnostics by providing biochemical and metabolic information at the molecular level with superb sensitivity and specificity.
Oct. 24

Dr. Marco Cavaglià
Missouri University of Science and Technology

 Unraveling the Universe's Deepest Mysteries with Gravitational Waves

Abstract: In 1916 Albert Einstein demonstrated that space and time can be warped in the shape of a wave. However, because of the extreme weakness of gravity, it just seemed impossible that we could ever observe these "ripples of space-time".
     On February 11, 2016, one hundred years after Einstein's paper on gravitational waves, scientists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration announced the first observation of a gravitational wave from two colliding black holes.
     Rather than being the end of a century-long scientific journey, this scientific achievement marked the beginning of a new way of exploring our Universe. Less than two years later, LIGO and Virgo scientists detected gravitational waves from the collision of two neutron stars, an event rapidly followed by the observation of light in all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum by hundreds of telescopes around the world and space in what became the most observed cosmic event in the history of humankind.
     Gravitational-wave observations are a new way to explore the sky and uncover the Universe's deepest mysteries. They allow scientists to test Einstein's General Relativity under extreme-gravity conditions, get important clues on the structure of dead stars, understand the origin of matter and the evolution of the Universe. With routine detections of gravitational waves, we can now map the dark universe. How many black holes populate the sky? How do they form and merge? What is the origin of gamma-ray bursts? Is General Relativity the correct theory of gravity?These are just a few of the unanswered questions that gravitational-wave astronomy is helping to answer.
Oct. 31 Dr. Rao Khan
Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine		 Keeping Physics Relevant in Ever-changing Practice of Radiological Medicine
Note! This is a joint seminar with Biology.
Abstract: Around 40% of men and women in the United States would succumb to cancer in their lifetime; at least half of them would undergo a course of radiation therapy. Since the discovery of X rays by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895, ionizing radiation have emerged as a critical tool in cancer treatment. Medical physics an offshoot of physics, prides in its strong roots and foundations in the principles of physics is practiced in patient-centered medicine every single day. In this discourse, we will present some examples of innovative therapy paradigms practiced in radiation oncology, and trace their origins to physics and scientific principles.  At WashU, we keep our focus on physics by designing and implementing new education and training pathways to practice physics for a continually changing landscape of medicine.
Nov. 7 Dr. Yew San Hor
Missouri University of Science and Technology		 TBA
Nov. 14 Christopher Robledo
MSU PAMS Graduate Student		 TBA
Shahidul Asif
MSU PAMS Graduate Student		 TBA
Nov. 21

Dr. Hugh Churchill
University of Arkansas

 TBA
Nov. 28 Thanksgiving: No seminar
Dec. 5 Dr. Emmett Redd
Missouri State University		 TBA
Dec. 12 Finals week: No seminar