UCSC

Structure plays an important role in understanding the physical properties of solid systems. The recognition that most solids have a well defined atomic structure provided a unification of a number of subfields in physics and played an important role in the emergence of the field that we now know as condensed matter physics. Professor Bridges works on a number of topics including thermoelectric materials, AC electroluminescent materials, the coupling between the crystal lattice and the electron system in correlated electron systems... One of Bridges' major areas of research is the study of local structure in the vicinity of specific atoms using X-ray Absorption Fine Structure spectroscopy (XAFS). This technique requires the very high x-ray intensity available at a Synchrotron source such as the nearby Stanford Synchrotron radiation Laboratory. Materials investigated include quasicrystals, fullerenes, superconductors and, recently, the colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) materials. In the..