How angle resolved photoemission can help us understand high temperature superconductivity and other complex states of matter

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 – 3:00pm
Reiss 502
Juan Carlos Campuzano
University of Illinois at Chicago

All the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of materials are controlled by electrons that occupy the highest energy level in solids, those near the Fermi energy. Many techniques were develop to study those electrons, leading to the great successes of condensed matter physics. Newer and complex materials, such as the high temperature superconductors, tend to exhibit very large anisotropies in their physical properties, requiring a more detailed knowledge of the behavior of electrons not only as a function of their energy, but also their momentum. Angle resolved photoemission can contribute to our understanding by providing a great deal of information on many of the momentum-dependent properties of electrons and their interactions. In this talk, I will present a brief overview of how a long-term and focused collaboration between scientists at ANL and other institutions has contributed to making angle resolved photoemission a most useful tool in the study of complex states of matter.

Host: Marcos Rigol
Discussion Leader: Marcos Rigol