Dr. Elbio Dagotto:
ORNL Division of Condensed Matter Sciences
UT Department of Physics and Astronomy
(see link to CV in PS format)
Arriving June 2004, condensed matter physicist Elbio Dagotto brings expertise in computer simulation of self-organizing complex materials, which have great potential in the world of shrinking computer-chip devices. A computational theorist, Dagotto develops predictive models that run under Monte Carlo simulations. The idea, ultimately, is to discover how the materials automatically organize themselves into one or another configuration when subjected to differences in current, say, for example, a crystal-like lattice formation. Manganites and cuprates, with their corresponding magnetic and high-temperature superconducting properties, fall into this category.
Computational simulation falls somewhere between experiment and abstract thinking. Dagotto's work anticipates the day when simulations will be so accurate they will accommodate millions and millions of atoms, instead of the few hundred now possible. Even so, with current computing techniques, simulations hint at experimental results, where electrons and atoms appear to vibrate randomly.
Dagotto's exciting work begins when his applications finally start to turn the computer screen into a window overlooking electronic arrangements within the lattice. Computers are the best tool to mimic the experimental difficulty of replacing a fraction of one kind of atom with another at a particular place in the lattice. Called doping, the new arrangement alters a material's average number of electrons. Because materials seek to be neutral, most electrons are trapped near the positive charge, leaving only a fraction to move throughout the material. Doping frees additional electrons and alters the relative amount of those that are mobile as compared with those that are static. So, it's a rearrangement of charge. When electrons are able to move away from the positive charge, the material becomes metallic. Those with the electrons stuck to the positive charge are insulators.
In 1992, Dagotto was part of the team that successfully predicted that if atoms of copper and oxygen were distributed in a “ladder-shaped” lattice formation, with the oxygen atoms held between the copper, the material should not only be superconducting but should also exhibit a quantum property called a spin gap. This computational theory was confirmed by experiments in the mid-1990s. In part because of this prediction and also for his recent work in complex structures, Dagotto was added to the ISI list of 250 Most Highly Cited Physicists in 2002. Citations demonstrate acceptance by peers and are a sign that research is making a mark on the science of the day. Dagotto brings a first-rate group and approximately $1 million (over 3 years) in research to the UT and ORNL community.
Website contact information