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Contact details |
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Telephone |
+44 (0) 118 378 8537 |
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Fax |
+44 (0) 118 975 0203 |
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E-mail |
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Location |
Department of Physics
University of Reading
Whiteknights
Reading RG6 6AF
UK |
Background
John Blackman
was recently Head of the Reading Physics Department. His research is in theoretical
physics and computational modelling. He has worked in the areas of disordered
materials, polymers, the electronic theory and statistical physics of
magnetism (in bulk materials and in nanoclusters),
and in the scaling behaviour of growth and aggregation phenomena. He is a
member of the Working Group of CCP3.
Research Activities
Nanoscale
Magnetic Clusters
Magnetic nanostructures are interesting systems in
which to study finite size effects in magnetism. They are also important
potential components in data storage media and read/write heads, and are
likely to be key to the technology enabling the
transition from the Gbits/in2 to Tbits/in2 regime. The
design of high magnetic moment and high anisotropy materials is vital to the
achievement of this goal.
The programme at Reading
uses electronic-structure methodology in calculating the moments and the
magnetocrystalline anisotropy in single element
and binary clusters of sizes up to about 1000 atoms. A particular focus for
binary clusters is the sensitivity of the properties to the configuration of
the interface between the two components. Reading is a partner in a European
collaborative programme (AMMARE) to develop
advanced nanocluster materials for data storage applications.
Droplet Growth and
Coalescence
The nucleation, aggregation and
growth of droplets on a surface is a basic process
that occurs in a wide range of phenomena from the nano
to the larger scale. A current focus of our work is the high surface coverage
regime where droplet coalescence processes are rate determining. The system
has analogues in higher dimensions, and in
particular in 3 dimensions where it is related to the problem of the dense
packing of a polydisperse sphere assembly, and in
turn to porosity problems.
Collaborations
Dr. Yuannan Xie
(Reading), Prof. Julian Poulter (Bangkok), Dr
Popi Trohidou
(Athens), Prof Chris Binns (Leicester)
Selected
Publications
1.
“Magnetocrystalline
anisotropy and orbital polaization in
ferromagnetic transition metals” Y.
Xie and J. A Blackman,
Phys. Rev. B 69 (2004) 172407 -1-4.
2.
“Magnetic anisotropy of
nanoscale cobalt particles”, Y.
Xie and J. A Blackman,
J. Phys. Condensed Matter 16 (2004) 3163-3172.
3.
“Enhanced effect of magnetic anisotropy on
free clusters” Y. Xie and J. A Blackman,
Appl. Phys. Lett. 82
(2003) 1446-1448.
4.
“Magnetism of iron clusters embedded in
cobalt” Y. Xie and J. A Blackman, Phys. Rev. B
66 (2002) 085410 - 1-5.
5.
“Polydispersity
exponent in homogeneous droplet growth”, J. A.
Blackman and S. Brochard,
Phys. Rev. Letters 84 (2000) 4409-4412.
Recent publications
staff
