A snapshot of key achievements in the New Materials theme – join LINXS Science Day
The New Materials theme will have its closing conference during LINXS Science Day on the 22nd of April. Theme leader Elizabeth Blackburn highlights how this day will be an opportunity to hear about key achievements within the working groups, how the work will be taken forward, and future developments in the area of new materials.
Professor Elizabeth Blackburn. New Materials theme leader.
– As a participant you can expect a nice summary of what has been happening within the theme, and what theme members are planning to do in the future, says Elizabeth Blackburn, theme leader, and Professor of Physics at Lund University.
– The programme will cover a snapshot of important achievements and aims to illustrate the variety of scientific questions that we have looked at during the life of the theme, covering areas from magnetic materials to catalysts, with different speakers including professors and PhD-students.
2-3 talks per working group
Each of the four working groups are holding two to three talks. Elizabeth Blackburn is specifically involved in the research with the Functional Magnetic Materials group.
She is glad to have talks from both Professor Andreas Michels from the University of Luxembourg, and Dr. Annika Stellhorn from ESS. They will present on topics of importance to the working group, relating to the science coming from mesoscopic magnetic structures, together with a focus on the different ways to treat and analyse small angle neutron scattering data from magnetic materials.
Many achievements to be proud of
She emphasises that she is very proud of what the theme has accomplished so far.
– Even though the theme started during the pandemic, each working group has done some amazing things. On the research side, this includes the work, led by Annika Stellhorn in the Functional Magnetic Materials group, to systematize the analysis of magnetic neutron small angle data using existing open-source software packages. The aim is to make support of this type of analysis sustainable without relying on specific individuals.
– I am convinced that this work will not only benefit the small group of researchers who have been involved in discussing this for some years, but also be of use to a wider group and make it a technique which will be accessible to many more researchers performing experiments at large scale neutron infrastructures.
She continues:
– On the education side, Jens Uhlig, involved in the Charge Transfer Materials working group has championed the much-appreciated XAS schools, on X-ray absorption spectroscopy, with a strong focus on practical training in both running experiments and analyzing the data. These schools have been of great value, not only to the students enrolled in the course, but also to PhD supervisors at different places, and plans are in place to continue the Schools.
Several theme activities will continue
As the theme is now wrapping up, Elisabeth Blackburn is glad to see so many activities continuing, like the XAS-school, and collaborations between different researchers that the theme has brought together during its existence. Acting as a bridge for new networks has been an important aim all along, she highlights.
Being at LINXS has allowed the theme and its researchers to prosper, and to grow organically.
– LINXS offers both a supportive and truly exciting environment! There are always people at LINXS to talk to and bounce ideas off. It is very profitable for this type of effort which is really based on exploring new questions and approaches.