Experiment The Condensed Matter program is the largest and fastest growing research area in the Department, with projects covering a broad range from basic to applied. A common characteristic is strong overlaps with other departments in the University, particularly Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, and connections with outside organizations such as other academic institutions and industry. Major University programs in which Department members participate include the Precision Engineering Center, which is funded by a consortium of industrial affiliates, and the Advanced Electronic Materials Processing Center, which is funded by the National Science Foundation.
Research is directed toward scientific and technical advances in areas of current relevance.
The motivations are to achieve a fundamental understanding of basic mechanisms and to apply this understanding to the solution of problems of current interest. Dr. Bernholc's research activities are in the application and development of methods involving high performance computations to problems in solid state and materials physics. The work spans a substantial range of theoretical research, from studies of defects and impurities in bulk semiconductors and layered structures, to semiconductor growth, interface formation, and the theory of clusters, such as buckyballs and nanotubes. From a technical point of view, however, most of the projects involve ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. These simulations require large amounts of supercomputer time, but are very reliable and accurate.