Materials Department
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5050
Tel: (805) 893-7920
Fax: (805) 893-8797
nicola@mrl.ucsb.edu
Research
in my group uses a combination of first-principles and semi-empirical
techniques to study the fundamental physics of novel materials which
have potential technological importance. Projects combine development
of new theoretical methods, application of the methods to existing
materials, then design of new materials based on the insights gained
from the research. Our particular focus is the design of contra-indicated
multifunctional materials, which combine multiple, technologically desirable
functionalities that tend not to co-exist. Specific systems of interest
include "multiferroic" materials (which are simultaneously ferromagnetic,
ferroelectric and ferroelastic), and thermoelectric materials, for converting
between thermal and electrical energy.
Our Center for the Chemical Design of Materials (CDM) is a National Science Foundation-funded interdisciplinary forum for integrated research, education, and public engagement in the chemistry of multifunctional materials.
The goals of the Center are:
- to use principles of chemical bonding to obtain a scientific understanding of smart phenomena in solids
- to design and prepare materials that combine multiple contraindicated functionalities
- to enhance the public's appreciation of chemistry as the fundamental science driving modern innovation.
Blatant self promotion
You can buy my
magnetism text book.......
....... from the Cambridge University Press web-site:
It's pretty good reading (photo from Anna-Karin
Axelsson's vacation in Sweden):
