Myron B Salamon

Biography

Professor Salamon received his bachelor's degree in physics from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University) in Pittsburgh in 1961, and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966. He joined the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois as an assistant professor in 1966. Professor Salamon is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Neutron Scattering Society.

During 1995-96, Professor Salamon served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor with the Japan Ministry of Education at Tsukuba University and was Matthias Scholar at Los Alamos National Lab. Since December 2000 he has been Associate Dean and Director of the Experiment Station in the College of Engineering.

Research Statement

Magnetic Behavior of Oxides and Nanophase Materials Certain manganese oxides, when doped, exhibit remarkable changes in electrical resistance at the ferromagnetic transition temperature. These changes are sensitive to magnetic fields, causing colossal magnetoresistance. Recent work focuses on the ferromagnetic state and the nature of the transition to it. We have found that the resistivity of single-crystal samples is independent of temperature at the lowest temperatures, followed by the sudden onset of temperature dependence arising from electron-spin wave scattering processes above 20 K. The conductivity, thermoelectric power, and possibly the Hall coefficient can be treated in the regime near Tc in terms of two-phase behavior involving polarons and band electrons. A new mechanism for the Hall effect, arising from quantum phases in a partially disordered magnet, has been demonstrated.

Phase Transitions in High-Temperature Superconductors Our research focuses on efforts to study the superconducting state through continuing studies of the low-temperature thermal conductivity, superconducting penetration depth, and heat capacity. Further studies of the d-wave nature of the superconducting state are underway, including predictions of a dependence of the heat capacity on the orientation of a magnetic field. Other unconventional superconductors, including ruthenates and nickel borocarbides, are being investigated.

Selected Articles in Journals

• Chia, EEM, et al. Evolution of superconducting order in Pr(Os_1-xRu_x)₄Sb₁₂. J. Phys.: Cond. Matt. 17, L303-310 (2005).
• Park, T, et al. Evidence for the coexistence of an anisotropic superconducting gap and nonlocal effects in the nonmagnetic superconductor LuNi2B2C. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 237002-1-4 (2004).
• Sun, Y, Salamon, MB, Garnier, K, and Averback, RS. Glassy vortex dynamics induced by a random array of magnetic particles above a superconductor. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 097002-1-4 (2004).
• Chia, EEM, Salamon, MB, Sugawara, H, and Sato, H. Probing the superconducting gap symmetry of PrRu₄Sb₁₂: a comparison with PrOs₄Sb₁₂. Phys. Rev. B 69, 180509-1-4 (2004).
• Park, T, Salamon, MB, Eun, MC, Kim, HJ, and Lee, S-I. Specific heat study of the magnetic superconductor HoNi₂B₂C. Phys. Rev. B 69, 054505-1-8 (2004).
• Park, T and Salamon, MB. Study on unconventional superconductors via angle-resolved specific heat. Mod. Phys. Lett. B 18, 1205-1223 (2004).