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Ward P. Beyermann
Associate Professor of Physics
Ph.D., 1988, University of California, Los Angeles
Experimental condensed matter physics
E-mail: ward.beyermann@ucr.edu
Phone: (951) 827-3947
Fax: (951) 827-4529
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Ward Beyermann, Assistant Professor of Physics, specializes in the transport
and thermodynamic properties of highly correlated electronic condensed matter
systems. These include materials where the strong interactions between the
electrons lead to unusual properties at low temperatures. Specific heat and
resisitivity are measured down to millikelvin temperatures and in high
magnetic fields. Some of the systems investigated include lanthanide and
actinide intermetallic compounds, lanthanide intermetallic borocarbides,
and carbon-fullerene materials.
Strong many-body correlations play an important role in certain
intermetallic compounds that contain 4f and 5f moments. The
interactions between the localized f electrons and the conduction
electrons renormalize the relevant energy scales and modify the thermodynamic
and transport properties at low temperatures. Depending on the magnitude of
the interactions, these compounds are referred to as either "heavy-fermion" or
"mixed-valent" systems. The strong correlations are also responsible for
unusual superconducting and magnetic ground states in some materials.
Studying properties like the specific heat and transport in prototypical and
recently discovered materials is the main trust of this research. These
properties are measured at temperatures as low as ~50 mK, and some experiments
are performed in magnetic fields as high as 50 T at the National High Magnetic
Field Laboratory. Neutron scattering is also used to investigate magnetic e
xcitations in these systems in collaboration with the Los Alamos Neutron
Scattering Center. Rare-earth and intermetallic atomic substitutions help
us investigate the interplay between magnetic, superconducting, and normal
state interactions.
Finally, the properties of the new carbon fullerene compounds (e.g.
C60,
K3C60 and
nanotubes) are being investigated. Specific-heat experiments are being
performed to study the intra-vibrational, inter-vibrational, and
rotational modes which are unique to these systems.
Selected Publications
W.P. Beyermann, M.F. Hundley, J.D. Thompson, F.N. Diederich, and G. Gruner,
"Low-Temperature Specific Heat of C60 ," Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 2046
(1992).
A. Yatskar, W.P. Beyermann, R. Movshovich, and P.C. Canfield, "Possible
Correlated-Electron Behavior from Quadrupolar Fluctuations in PrInAg2 ,"
Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3637 (1996).
A. Yatskar, N.K. Budraa, W.P. Beyermann, P.C. Canfield, and S.L. Bud'ko,
"Heavy-Electron Behavior in Single-Crystal YbNi2B2C,"
Phys. Rev. B 54, R3772 (1996).
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