In the age of nano: Crystal growth of rare-earth intermetallics and pnictide superconductors

Although this is an era of nanotechnology, single crystals are still very much inevitable for basic research as well as for applications. In other words, crystals are the pillars of modern technology. In the first part of the talk, I will explain the various crystal growth methods to grow rare-earth intermetallic compounds. The second part of my talk will focus on the newly discovered pnictide superconductors. In the year 2008, Hideo Hosono of Japan, reported the discovery of superconductivity with a Tc of 26 K in flourine doped LaFeAsO system. Subsequently, the superconducting transition temperature rose to as high as 55 K by replacing La by other rare-earth ions, this has led to a torrent of research activity in the pnictide based compounds. The structurally related compounds AFe2As2 (A = Ba, Sr, Ca and Eu) also exhibited similar magnetic and superconducting properties as that of the LaFeAsO compounds. I will discuss in detail about our success with the single crystal growth of AFe2As2 (A = Ba, Sr, Ca and Eu) compounds and the evolution of bulk superconductivity, up on doping, in this series of compounds. 



About Dr. A. Thamizhavel 

A. Thamizhavel is a faculty in DCMPMS, TIFR. He got his B.Sc., and M.Sc., Degree from Madras University. He received his Ph.D from the Crystal Growth Centre, Anna University, Madras. He did his post doctoral research at Kyoto University during 1998-2001 and then subsequently at Osaka University during 2001-2005. From Jan. 2006, he is an academic faculty in DCMPMS, TIFR. He has to his credit 90 papers published in various international journals. 


Research Interests

Crystal growth of intermetallic systems Anisotropic magnetic properties of strongly correlated electron systems Anisotropic superconducting properties of pnictide superconductors.