The Department of Physics offers opportunities for postgraduate work in
experimental, applied and theoretical physics and materials science. A student
enrolling for an MSc, MAppSc or PhD degree, under the guidance of an assigned
supervisor, pursues an individual research project. All postgraduate students
are expected to attend departmental colloquia and other research seminars.
Areas of research strength have been identified as (a) x-ray physics and
imaging and (b) condensed matter physics, including the development and
characterisation of novel materials. A detailed listing of research projects is
published annually. Research projects may be offered in the following areas:
Inelastic electron scattering in Si and GaAs. Propagation of waves in disordered systems, phase transitions from extended to localised states. Field theoretical studies in condensed matter. Theoretical studies of nanostructures.
Multiparticle interference using entangled states, quantum chaos, quasiprobability distributions in quantum mechanics, non-linear extensions to quantum mechanics.
Wavelet transforms and the renormalisation group. Computational models of memory, neural nets, foundation studies in mathematical morphology. Monte Carlo studies of diffraction and scattering, x-ray and microwave tomography. Reconstruction algorithms in diffraction tomography. Cellular automata and physics models, thermodynamics and complex systems. Large-scale computer simulations of topological defects in the early universe.
The gravitational Aharonov-Bohm effect. Topological defects, cosmic strings and loops in cosmology, studies of geometric phases in physical systems, topology on discrete lattices, holonomy and path space formulation of gauge theories.
Pulsed and continuous-wave EPR studies of free radicals and transition metal ions in crystals, minerals, chemical complexes and biological materials. Theoretical studies of lineshapes, asymmetries and computer simulation of disordered and partially ordered systems. Electron spin echo envelope modulation, FT-EPR, 2-D EPR and other multiple pulse sequence techniques. Spin dynamics using time domain spectroscopy. Spin lattice relaxation of glasses.
Magnetism in disordered systems including spin glass phases, frustration, disordered antiferromagnets and random fields. Measurements of magnetic susceptibility and magnetic neutron scattering. Studies by SQUID magnetometry, polarised neutron diffraction, and spectroscopy with polarisation analysis. The focus is on the stability of spin glasses and low dimensional magnetic structures through measurements of magnetic correlations at the atomic level.
Studies of the magnetic and crystallographic properties of solids containing iron, rare earths or gold and their relation to materials development and mineral processing. Areas of interest include adsorption of gold and other metals onto activated carbon and polyurethane foams, magnetic properties of invar and iron-nickel meteorites, exchange-spring magnets, martensite materials, layered magnetic materials, poorly crystalline iron oxide and related minerals, coal and coal products. Some studies utilise the unique multiple spectrum Mossbauer data acquisition systems developed in the department for imaging or time-dependent studies.
Studies of charge transport and storage in polymeric dielectrics using thermally stimulated conductivity and depolarisation current measurements. Mapping of the spatial distribution of excess charge in dielectrics using the laser-induced pressure pulse and laser intensity modulation techniques. Computer simulation of charge transport in insulators containing traps with a distribution of charge trapping and release times.
Studies of the electronic, magnetic and structural properties of rf-magnetron sputtered thin films. Currently under study are materials exhibiting martensite transformations having shape-memory characteristics, materials suitable for exploitation as thin film lubricants and flat panel displays. This falls in the research strength area of ´Novel materials: development and characterisation'.
Studies of flux pinning in type II superconducting materials. Electromagnetic properties of C60-based materials. Thermal expansion and related properties for martensitic alloy systems. Studies of martensite interfaces using optical, scanning, tunnelling and atomic force microscopies. Dimensional stability of ceramics. Materials for hollow cathode applications.
X-ray and neutron diffraction studies of crystal structure. Residual stress measurements in engineering materials. Scanning microscopy and associated EDAX studies of materials.
Acoustic impulses applied to a variety of environmental problems including propagation through an atmosphere with wind and temperature gradients, the effect of atmospheric turbulence, shielding of sound by barriers, measurement of ground impedance and the effect of moisture on the acoustic properties of soil. Development of an acoustic landmine detector.
Low energy x-ray transmission microtomography studies for the non-destructive evaluation of low atomic number materials, development of low-energy elastic scatter-computed tomography (CT) using synchrotron quality x-rays, high energy x-ray and gamma-ray CT system development for industrial materials such as ceramics and advanced materials. X-ray densitometry for moisture and density distribution studies in wood, strain measurements in materials using CT and image-warping methods, automated feature extraction and classification in CT images. Modelling and reconstruction algorithm development, particularly for fan-beam and cone-beam systems, and diffraction techniques.
Mathematical morphology, design of optimal filters, feature recognition. Subjective assessment of texture, co-occurrence matrices, fractal and covariance analysis of texture. Texture and edges in colour or multiband images. Microwave imaging of defects. Machine vision applied to industry and agriculture. Neural networks and cellular automata for image processing.
Search for new physical effects and their application to development of diffraction and imaging techniques for unique characterisation of technologically important materials. Studies of fundamental properties of the complex diffraction amplitude of x-ray and synchrotron radiation. Development of novel theoretical and numerical formalisms for the diffraction and imaging data analysis including the x-ray phase retrieval in one and two-dimensional cases.
The department has a range of sophisticated research equipment, including superconducting magnets producing fields up to 14 tesla, a variety of 4He and 3He cryostats, high pressure-low temperature facilities, 10 M[sinvcircumflex]ssbauer spectrometers, Varian CW and Bruker FT/CW electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometers, Quantum Dynamics 7 tesla SQUID magnetometer, Varian and Cary spectrophotometers, Hitachi scanning electron microscope with a Kevex energy dispersive x-ray analysis unit, Scintag x-ray powder diffractometer with automated search-match capabilities, a number of x-ray and gamma-ray computed tomography scanners including a Hitachi CW1000 medical body scanner and an ultra-high resolution (0.01 arc sec.) triple-axis diffractometer equipped with eight different energy radiation sources, high resolution crystalline optics. Precision magnetic susceptibility balances, image and signal processing equipment. Scanning probe microscopes, including atomic force and scanning tunnelling microscopy, two-inch and multiply three-inch rf-magnetron sputter thin film deposition systems. In addition, the department has supporting facilities that include a mechanical workshop, electronics workshop, a computing support group, with extensive computational facilities, including SGI/Sun workstations and Pentium computers and access to a SG parallel challenge computer, and materials preparation facilities. The department also possesses a Koch 1410 helium liquefier to provide cryogenic fluids for the low temperature research. Postgraduate students also have extensive access to research facilities throughout the country such as the reactor HIFAR at Lucas Heights to use the neutron scattering instruments including LONGPOL. Overseas x-ray research facilities include steady access to the Australian Synchrotron Research Program at the Photon Factory in Japan and at the Advanced Photon Source in USA as well as to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France. Overseas neutron research facilities include steady use of the Institut Laue Langevin in France and the Berlin Neutron Scattering Centre, as well as access to the ISIS spallation source in England.
Monash University is situated close to a number of established high-technology industries. There are frequent opportunities for projects which arise from collaborative work of staff members with industrial organisations. These projects are supported by the facilities and expertise of the department, in addition to the infrastructure of the collaborating industrial partner.
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