Condensed Matter Research Center
Youichi Murakami
Condensed Matter Research Center/Photon Factory,
Institute of Materials Structure Science, KEK
The Condensed Matter Research Center (CMRC) was established in the Institute ofMaterials Structure Science on April 1st, 2009. The mission of the CMRC is to pursue
cutting-edge researches of condensed matter science by comprehensive use ofmulti-probes (synchrotron light, neutron, muon etc.). CMRC is also expected to be acenter of excellence in materials structure science fields by a tight collaboration withresearchers of universities and other institutes in the world.
CMRC has four research groups: correlated electron matter group (Group Leader(GL): R. Kadono), surface/interface group (GL: K. Amemiya), matter under extremecondition group (GL: T. Kondo), and soft matter group (GL: H. Seto). These groups arepromoting the following six projects, which include cross-sectional research among
these groups.
1. Hybridized orbital ordering project (Project Leader (PL): H. Nakao): The
hybridized orbital ordering between localized and itinerant electrons is studied using
resonant hard and soft x-ray scattering and inelastic neutron scattering. The orbital
hybridization is a central problem in strongly correlated electron systems.
2. Geometrical correlation project (PL: R. Kadono): This project goal is to determine
a characteristic correlation-time of fluctuation in itinerant systems under the influenceof geometrical frustration using muon, neutron, and synchrotron, which are probes withdifferent observation-time scale.
3. Molecular crystal project (PL: R. Kumai): Charge, spin, orbital ordering and theirfluctuations in molecular crystal systems are investigated under external fields such as
electric, magnetic fields and high pressure.
4. Surface/interface project (PL: K. Amemiya): Crystal structure and electronic
structure at surface and interface of magnetic thin films and multilayers are studied bydepth-resolved magnetic circular dichroism (MCD)/x-ray absorption spectroscopy(XAS), resonant x-ray scattering (RXS), and neutron reflectivity. The research isimportant for materials development of a new electronics: spintronics.
5. Extreme condition project (PL: T. Kondo): Physical and chemical properties ofcompounds in core of the earth are elucidated by diffraction and spectroscopy
techniques of synchrotron x-ray and neutron.
6. Soft matter project (PL: H. Seto): This project has three targets: spontaneous
motion under non-equilibrium condition, hierarchical structure of soft matter complex,
and functional soft matter interfaces. Complementary use of synchrotron and neutron
makes these structures clear.
We are carrying out these studies using synchrotron beamlines (BL) of PF and
PF-AR at Tsukuba campus and neutron and muon BL of J-PARC at Tokai campus.
BL-8A and 8B of PF are used to analyze the crystal structure; High-resolution powder
diffractometer of J-PARC is useful for the magnetic structure analysis. BL-3A and 4Cof PF are frequently used to examine the orders of electronic degrees of freedom suchas charge, spin, and orbital orders under high pressure and strong magnetic field.
BL-16A of PF is used for the measurements of MCD, RXS, XAS; resonant soft x-ray
scattering diffractometer is installed this year. The experiments of high pressure arecarried out at PF-AR beamlines: NE1 for the diamond anvil cell and NE3 for the largepress. The chopper spectrometer (HRC) of J-PARC makes it possible for thehigh-resolution experiments of inelastic neutron scattering. The experiment used muon
BL of J-PARC gives us information about local magnetization.