Shpyrko receives APS organization's Young Investigator Award
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ARGONNE, Ill. (May 6, 2008) – The Advanced
Photon Source (APS) Users Organization
has named Oleg G. Shpyrko as the recipient of the 2008 Rosalind Franklin Young
Investigator Award. The award recognizes an important technical or scientific
accomplishment by a young investigator that depended on, or is beneficial to,
the APS. Shpyrko received the award during 2008 Users Week at the U.S. Department
of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, where he will also present his
work.
Shpyrko has been recognized for reaching a remarkably high level of achievement
early in his career. He applied challenging surface and coherent X-ray scattering
techniques to understanding the structure and dynamics of liquid metal surfaces
and quantum states in condensed matter systems. He is also a dedicated and
enthusiastic teacher.
He received his Ph.D. degree from Harvard
University in 2004 under the direction
of Peter Pershan; he then had postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard and the Center
for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory before joining the faculty
of the University
of California, San Diego, Physics Department in 2007.
As a postdoctoral fellow at Argonne, Shpyrko studied domain wall fluctuations
in antiferromagnets, technologically important materials used to tailor the
properties of magnetic sensors in hard drive read heads. In antiferromagnets,
magnetic properties form distinct regions called domains. Fluctuations in the
domain boundaries or walls were expected to cause magnetic noise that could
affect the material's performance, but characteristics of the domains rendered
them invisible to conventional techniques.
Shpyrko applied a newly developed technique called X-ray photon correlation
spectroscopy to observe fluctuations of these domain walls for the first time.
He found that the magnetic noise cannot be eliminated.
The ability to observe domain wall fluctuation is important both for engineering
tailored materials and for fundamental studies in condensed matter physics.
For his thesis work, Shpyrko resolved a long-standing controversy on whether
atomic layering is unique to liquid metals. He used X-ray surface scattering
techniques to compare the surface structure in high-surface-tension liquid
metals with the surface structure in low-surface-tension alkali metals and
nonmetallic liquids. The results showed layering in alkali metals but no layering
in water. The observation indicates that layering is unique to metallic liquids
and it arises from electronic properties rather than high surface tension.
Shpyrko has continued to study the surface properties of liquid metals, working
in particular with gold silicide (AuSi), a solder used in nanoscale circuitry.
In contrast to the previously observed behavior of other liquid alloys and
pure liquid metals, a nondilute liquid eutectic gold-silicon alloy
(Au82Si18) developed both a crystallized alloy “skin” and
an ordered structure extending several atomic layers into the bulk. The “skin” remained
an alloy, rather than segregating to a pure metal as in other liquid alloys.
The results are important because properties at the nanoscale, including the
effectiveness of AuSi as a nanoscale solder, are expected to depend heavily
on surface effects.
Located at Argonne, the APS is a national
synchrotron X-ray research facility funded by the U.S. Department of
Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic
Energy Sciences. The APS provides
the brightest
X-ray beams in the Western Hemisphere to more than 5,000 scientists
worldwide.
Argonne National Laboratory brings the world's brightest scientists and engineers
together to find exciting and creative new solutions to pressing national problems
in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne
conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every
scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from
hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies
to help them solve their specific problems, advance America's scientific leadership
and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60
nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago
Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department
of Energy's Office of Science.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology.
The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic
and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne
researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities,
and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific
problems, advance America 's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for
a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed
by UChicago
Argonne, LLC for
the U.S.
Department of Energy's Office
of Science.
For more information, please
contact Brock Cooper (630/252-5565 or media@anl.gov)
at Argonne.
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