Cross Sections Spring 2007
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Cross Sections Physics and Astronomy Spring 2007 Cross Sections Spring 2007 Department of Physics and Astronomy Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk-cross Part of the Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons, and the Physics Commons Recommended Citation Department of Physics and Astronomy, "Cross Sections Spring 2007" (2007). Cross Sections. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk-cross/8 This Newsletter is brought to you for free and open access by the Physics and Astronomy at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cross Sections by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE NEWSLETTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY CROSS SECTIONS SPRING/SUMMER 2007 Ultrathin Metal Alloys as Potential “Hydrogen Sponge” UT’s Physicists Win $1.2 Million for the President’s Hydrogen Fuels Initiative UT physicists, together with ORNL scientists, have won $1.2 discovered how to clear those hurdles. Zhang and his collaborators, million to study hydrogen storage; an endeavor built on metal, in fact, discovered “magic layer thicknesses” in these tiny systems magic, and the power of one tiny electron. that can stabilize the fi lm, making it possible to grow smooth layers. The Department of Energy grant actually began with “Tuning The UT group found that the Quantum Stability and Superconductivity of Ultrathin Metal by fi ne-tuning the way a Alloys,” published in the June 15 issue of Science. Professors Jim fi lm develops, they can Thompson, Hanno Weitering, and Zhenyu Zhang co-wrote the determine its behavior. paper with lead author Murat Özer (Ph.D., 2006) and Yu Jia, a “By tuning the growth visiting professor from Zhengzhou University (ZZU) in Zhengzhou, mode,” Weitering China. says, “we were able to The UT/ORNL/ZZU collaborative team reports on an alloy made tune superconducting from lead and bismuth, as well as the discovery that thin fi lms made properties.” from these metals can be “tuned” at the atomic level. While they That discovery inspired have had previous success using lead alone to grow very fl at, smooth them to consider the idea fi lms, the addition of bismuth revealed some interesting new ideas that if you could tune Zhenyu Zhang and Hanno Weitering about how materials behave at the nanoscale. the physical properties Ultrathin fi lms are typically only fi ve to 20 atoms thick. While a of quantum systems, perhaps it’s possible to change their chemical metal or an alloy may be well understood in bulk form, in quantum properties as well, in effect devising “a knob” of sorts to tune systems like this, Weitering explains, all bets are off. chemical reactions. “Small scale materials can just behave very differently,” he says. “The properties are dictated by quantum mechanics.” Quantum Leap to Hydrogen As he explains it, the group drove the bismuth-lead alloy into the When DOE requested proposals for research supporting the “quantum regime” by changing the temperature. Bismuth and lead President’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, UT’s physicists saw an sit side-by-side on the periodic table, with bismuth having one more opportunity to apply their quantum tuning concept to hydrogen electron than its neighbor. chemistry. “That extra electron does the trick,” Weitering says. By changing “The hydrogen grant proposal was inspired by the number of electrons in the fi lm, “we’ve found that you can this quantum growth,” Weitering says. (continued on page 3) tune the growth morphology. That means you can do microscopic measurements as a function of thickness, where you know exactly IN THIS ISSUE what the thickness and compositions are. To have that perfect control is usually very hard.” A Message from Soren Sorensen {Page 2} Honors Day Celebration {Page 4} Alumnus Profi le: Richard Manley {Page 5} UT Although scientists have grown thin fi lms for years, in the past it Physics and the LHC {Page 6} Materials Partnership with Zhejiang was diffi cult to control their size and structure because extremely University {Page 7} New Faculty: Kate Jones {Page 8} Spring thin fi lms usually self-destruct, forming tiny droplets. Weitering Retirements {9} News from the Physics Family {Page 10} explains that it wasn’t until the late 1990s that researchers SPRING/SUMMER 2007 CROSS SECTIONS STEM Initiatives and Department Head Physics Education Research Soren Sorensen Slowly our nation is realizing that we have a looming crisis on Communications for the College of Arts and Sciences, Tennessee our hands: we do not graduate a suffi cient number of people with has only 261 educators with valid licenses in physics and many of degrees in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and them might not even be teaching anymore. Since Tennessee has Mathematics) fi elds. After a rapid increase in STEM degrees 731 public and accredited non-public high schools, this means in the 1960s and ’70s as a result of educational and research only about one-third of all high schools have a licensed physics investments done due to the Sputnik scare, the interest in STEM teacher! Both the President and our governor have started programs has been decreasing for the last 25 years relative to other fi elds in encouraging professionals like engineers to become STEM teachers. the humanities and social sciences. However, the economy and But programs like that are stop-gap measures and not a substitute defense of our nation needs a steady supply of people with a strong for solving the problems the only correct way: by educating a new background in STEM areas. Furthermore, we need these people here generation of dedicated teachers in STEM fi elds and, in particular, in the US in order to stay competitive with the rapidly expanding in physics. economies overseas, in particular in Southeast Asia. The report from Needless to say, the physics department wants to play a major the National Academies, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, (http:// role in educating the next generation of high school teachers in www.nap.edu/catalog/11463.html) points out that “Economic physics. Historically, this is not an area we have excelled in. We studies conducted even before the information-technology have a great program aimed at preparing our bachelor’s students for revolution have shown that as much as 85% of measured growth in graduate school in physics. Our students are among the best and US income per capita was due to technological change.” And a few brightest at UT, with higher average ACT scores than most other years ago Alan Greenspan pointed out that the major reason for our programs. However, we do not have many students who manage to strong economy over the last 15 years has been improvements in graduate with a B.S. in physics who have ACT scores comparable technology. This is likely to be even more pronounced in the future to “average UT students.” We need to provide an education in as more and more simple production jobs go overseas, and we have physics to students who wish to become teachers and who have to keep our economy strong by relying on our capabilities to produce test scores just as good as the average history, German, or social advanced products and services. studies major. To do that, we need to generate a new and innovative The publication of Rising Above the Gathering Storm has fortunately physics curriculum for our General Concentration with a stronger created a lot of awareness about this problem among politicians and emphasis on conceptual physics and integrated laboratory exercises educators. And not just awareness: it now looks like there are several and without the current requirement of excellence in advanced legislative initiatives likely to be passed that will try to address the mathematics, which is not required in order to become a top-notch problem through increased funding for research in the STEM fi elds K-12 physics teacher. and, in particular, for educational initiatives aimed at increasing Based on the deliberations leading up to our new strategic plan, we the number of STEM graduates. A key element in all the various decided to develop a set of three new upper-division courses: Physics bills is the strong support for increased production of competent 380, 381, and 382. For the students in our General Concentration, K-12 teachers in STEM fi elds. It is at this level our nation initially these three courses will partially replace the upper-division core will need to “harvest” more young people for STEM. Both at the courses in Classical Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics, Electricity national and state level there are now initiatives for additional and Magnetism, and Quantum Mechanics. (These are required scholarships for students in these fi elds who promise to become for our majors in the Academic Concentration and provide teachers afterwards. Several federal agencies have increased funding the background needed to get accepted into a physics graduate for educational initiatives at the university level for improving program.) Developing and teaching the Physics 380-382 sequence STEM teaching and STEM student production. will be a challenging task. Few colleges have a course sequence At the state level, Tennessee has a severe shortage of competent like this; most generally just teach a “watered down” version of the science teachers and, in particular, physics teachers. According core courses. However, we are not satisfi ed with such an approach. to information from Lynn Champion, Director of Outreach and Physics education research has made great strides over the last 2 CROSS SECTIONS SPRING/SUMMER 2007 (“Hydrogen Sponge,” continued from page 1) With fellow physicists Zhang and Distinguished Professor Ward “Magnesium happens to be a lightweight material that soaks Plummer, Weitering submitted a proposal to investigate “Quantum up hydrogen,” he says.