Comprehensive Research Involving Synchrotron Radiation, Neutrons, and Theoretical Simulation, Selected as One of the Highlights of 2012 by the Institute of Physics (IOP) (Press Release)
- Release Date
- 11 Mar, 2013
- BL04B2 (High Energy X-ray Diffraction)
Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI)
Yamagata University
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The achievement made by a research group of JASRI and Yamagata University jointly with the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) and Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany) was selected as one of the Highlights of 2012 in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, a journal related to condensed matter published by IOP. In this research, the electron state that stabilizes the disordered atomic arrangement of an amorphous*2 material used as mother materials in DVDs and BDs was revealed using SPring-8,*1 the pulsed neutron source of the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) called KENS (currently part of the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility, the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, J-PARC), and a supercomputer at Forschungszentrum Jülich. It was found, for the first time, that the amorphous material contains a large volume of voids. These achievements were reported in the January 11 issue of 2012 and a picture of the clarified amorphous structure was appeared on the front cover page of the issue. The research group, led by Shinji Kohara (senior scientist) of Research & Utilization Division, JASRI, and Takeshi Usuki (professor) of Yamagata University, combined experiments using the cutting-edge facilities employing synchrotron radiation and neutrons with theoretical simulations using the supercomputer in Jülich. They analyzed the reliable structure of amorphous materials at atomic and electronic level, which was the reason for the selection in the Highlights of 2012 collection. Marked advancements in the field of condensed matter including amorphous matter will be made by furthering this cutting-edge research in cooperation with domestic large research facilities such as SPring-8 (Sayo-gun, Hyogo), J-PARC (Naka-gun, Ibaraki), and the K computer (Kobe, Hyogo). The Highlights of 2012 were announced at the Meeting of the Division of Condensed Matter of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft held in Regensburg, Germany, on 10 March 2013 and were appeared at the following web site. http://iopscience.iop.org/0953-8984/page/Highlights 20of 202012 Publication: |
<<Figures>>
(a) Overall view, (b) top view, (c) bottom view, and (d) side view.
Red, Ge; yellow, Te; light blue, voids; magenta, centers of voids [shown only in (a)]
<<Glossary>>
*1 SPring-8
SPring-8 is a synchrotron radiation facility that provides the world’s highest-brilliance synchrotron radiation. It is owned by RIKEN and located in Harima Science Park City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. JASRI is responsible for the operation, management, and promotion of the use of SPring-8. The name “SPring-8” is derived from “Super Photon ring-8 GeV”. When the direction of the electron beams accelerated to nearly the speed of light is changed by magnets, electromagnetic waves are emitted in the tangential direction; these waves are synchrotron radiation. When the electron beam has a higher energy and the change in the traveling direction is large, synchrotron radiation contains shorter-wavelength lights such as X-rays. In particular, the following three facilities are known as the third-generation large synchrotron facilities: SPring-8 in Japan, the Advanced Photon Source (APS) in the USA, and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France. Because the ring at SPring-8 enables an electron acceleration energy of 8 giga-electronvolts to be generated, synchrotron radiation in a wide range of wavelengths can be obtained including far-infrared light, visible light, vacuum ultraviolet light, soft X-rays, and hard X-rays. SPring-8 is used by researchers both in Japan and overseas for joint research in various fields such as materials science, earth science, life science, environmental science, and industrial applications.
*2 Amorphous
Amorphous solids are solids without the three-dimensionally ordered atomic arrangement that can be seen in crystals and include glass materials. Amorphous materials are also called noncrystalline materials.
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For more information, please contact: prof. Takeshi Usuki (Yamagata University) |
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