We returned to Urban Artifact for another amazing talk from a local scientist! Dr. Jonathan Morris explained his research on some very intriguing materials: “spin ice” crystals with a magnetic monopole.
Dr. Jonathan Morris joined the physics department at Xavier University in August 2013. He earned his PhD from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom in 2007. During his studies he worked on a fascinating material that had been studied for its wide range of properties from being a potential battery material, being a good thermoelectric material to being a superconductor when water is added to it. Via measurements of the diffuse x-ray scattering and diffuse neutron scattering he was able to understand how the sodium ions in the material order and influence the interesting electronic properties. This work culminated in a thesis entitled “Sodium ordering and the control of properties in sodium cobaltate” and publications in Phys. Rev. B. and Nature.
