[Physics opps] Harvard Physics Colloquia

[8-opps@mit.edu]

For reference, Harvard's colloquia are Mondays at 4:15.  See below  
for this week's announcement:

> From: maynard at physics.harvard.edu
> Date: September 21, 2008 6:20:17 AM EDT
> To: sps-list at hcs.harvard.edu, grads at physics.harvard.edu,  
> faculty at physics.harvard.edu, research at physics.harvard.edu,  
> support at physics.harvard.edu, cfa-wide at cfa.harvard.edu
> Subject: [SPS]  REMINDER: Quantum Oscillations in Metals: Old Dog,  
> New Tricks, Andy MacKenzie, Univ. of St. Andrews
>
> my.harvard calendar reminder:
>
> Event Information:
>
> Date        : 9/22/2008
> Start Time  : 04:15 PM
> End Time    : 05:30 PM
>
> Title       : Quantum Oscillations in Metals: Old Dog, New Tricks,  
> Andy MacKenzie, Univ. of St. Andrews
> Description : Over the past year considerable excitement has been  
> generated in the solid state physics community by the observation  
> of an experimental signal that had been sought for over twenty  
> years, namely quantum oscillations in the copper-oxide high  
> temperature superconductors.  The oscillations result from the  
> quantization of charge carrier motion in a magnetic field, and are  
> notoriously difficult to see because of the strength with which  
> they are damped by thermal broadening and impurity scattering.  I  
> will review the field from a historical perspective and with the  
> goal of explaining the lasting significance of this class of  
> experiments to our on-going quest to understand exotic metals and  
> superconductors.  Although the first observation of quantum  
> oscillations dates from the seminal work of de Haas and van Alphen  
> in Leiden in 1930, the technique was pioneered experimentally and  
> theoretically during the first period in which Russian scientists  
> made an impact on physic
>  s while working in the West.  One of them, David Shoenberg, was  
> working with Kapitza in the (UK) early 1930's.  He took up the task  
> of understanding the 'de Haas - van Alphen' effect, and devoted his  
> life to its development, collaborating closely with Lev Landau, who  
> was a close friend of his.  In the course of reviewing the impact  
> that the de Haas - van Alphen effect has had on solid-state  
> physics, I will draw from time to time on his personal anecdotes  
> about the amazing circumstances in which the early work was done.   
> The main theme of the talk will be to explain the fundamental value  
> of the information that can be extracted from analysis of quantum  
> oscillation spectra, and crucially why the technique is much more  
> than a historical curiosity.  It still has much to tell us about  
> the frontiers of the physics of materials, both today and in the  
> future.
> Location    : Jefferson 250.............Tea served in Jefferson 450  
> @ 3:30 pm
> URL         : http://www.physics.harvard.edu
> Phone       : (671) 495-2872
> Calendar    : Physics Monday Colloquia
>
>
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