M University of Minnesota
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School of Physics & Astronomy
116 Church Street S.E.
Minneapolis, MN, 55455
Phone: 612-624-7375
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Superfluidity, Surfaces & Complexity

David Kast with the jamming machine he built for the granular materials lab.
photo by Jenny Curtis
When learning about physical phenomenon students are often called upon to image the best case scenario, with simple systems tin order to learn a concept. For example the phrase "assume a perfect crystal" might be familiar to you if you've ever take a solid state physics class. But in the real world, a perfect crystal is rare and systems are often complicated and "noisy."

That's where Professor James Kakalios comes in. He investigates disordered systems. His group has been concerned with studying the electronic properties of amorphous semiconductors, specifically conductance fluctuations in hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Another research program in Kakalios' lab involves the study of spontaneous segregation and jamming phenomena in granular media.

The group lead by Professor J. Woods Halley works in both experimental and theoretical physics. Halley's group does theoretical and simulation studies of electrode-electrolyte interfaces, including the dynamics of molecules during electron transfer with electrodes. Halley also studies the electronic structure of oxides and metals at the electrode-electrolyte interface using self-consistent tight binding molecular dynamics as well as ab initio plane wave techniques. The same group carries out studies of solvation, transport and ion pairing using numerical molecular dynamics methods, including polymeric systems of relevance to batteries and fuel cells.

Halley, in collaboration with Emeritus Professor William Zimmermann, also studies the interaction of 4He vapor with liquid superfluid 4He. This is being done to elucidate the nature of superfluidity, Bose Einstein condensation, and low temperature gas dynamics.

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