Prof. Dallas Trinkle has a Research Opening in Computational Condensed Matter Physics

Professor Dallas Trinkle is recruiting for a physics graduate student research assistant in the area of electronic structure studies of materials interfaces and defects. His research group studies defects in materials at the atomistic-scale using density functional theory (DFT), including development of new methods based on DFT to enable novel simulations. As part of an ongoing collaborative effort with Prof. Zuo's high-resolution TEM group at Illinois, they are simulating metal/oxide interfaces to understand interfacial reconstructions of gold nanoparticles on TiO2 substrates, and the formation of defects. This work involves the continuing development of the novel DFT energy density method for the calculation of defect energies applied to complex structures. This research is at the intersection of condensed matter physics, computational physics, and materials science.

Professor Dallas Trinkle is a faculty member in Materials Science and Engineering, and a principal investigator in the Seitz Materials Research Laboratory. His formal education is in mathematics and physics, with a PhD in physics from Ohio State University. Other research in his group concerns the structure of line defects, and impact on mechanical and transport properties in materials. If you are interested in discussing possible research opportunities, please contact him at dtrinkle@illinois.edu.

Selected recent publications:
"Accurate and efficient algorithm for Bader charge integration," M. Yu and D. R. Trinkle. J. Chem. Phys. 134, 064111 (2011).

"Energy density in density functional theory: Application to crystalline defects and surfaces," M. Yu, D. R. Trinkle, R. M. Martin. Phys. Rev. B 83, 115113 (2011).

"Au/TiO2(110) interfacial reconstruction stability from ab initio," M. Yu and D. R. Trinkle. J. Phys. Chem. C 115, 17799-17805 (2011).

"Direct calculation of lattice Green function with arbitrary interactions for general crystals," J. A. Yasi and D. R. Trinkle. Phys. Rev. E 85, 066706 (2012).

"Direct diffusion through interpenetrating networks: Oxygen in titanium," H. H. Wu and D. R. Trinkle. Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 045504 (2011).