A challenging aspect of designing functional materials is to understand the impact of a wide range of characteristic spatial and temporal scales on stabilizing novel phases. Commonly used mean field approaches often provide reasonable estimates for static properties at macroscopic length scales. However, it does not provide the requisite fundamental insight into the important processes...
Ordering of large length-scale magnetic structures are commonly studied using techniques like electron microscopy (EM), small angle neutron scattering (SANS), and resonant elastic x-ray scattering (REXS). Using coherent X-rays to investigate these systems, we can probe magnetic textures in ways that were once exclusive to either EM or SANS: domain dynamics, inter-mixed phases, long and short...
High-speed XPCS using new coherent X-ray sources and fast detectors opens new avenues to explore fluctuation dynamics in fluids. We have been studying systems relevant to liquid-liquid extraction processes, where an organic solution of extractant molecules is used to separate ions from an aqueous solution by formation of nanoscale molecular complexes. The organic phase exhibits incipient phase...
Rare earth nickelates RNiO3 display an insulator to metal transition (MIT) which is accompanied by a magnetic transition, charge ordering, and a crystal structure change from orthorhombic low temperature to monoclinic high temperature state. While this system has been widely studied, the nature of the fluctuation across the transition, and the associated time- and length-scales is not known....
