Mohammed Shakawat Hossain (`Shak'), a USC undergraduate physics major working in Professor Gerd Bergmann's laboratory, was invited to present his research paper "Giant Moments of Fe and Co on and in Na Films" at the American Association of Physics Teachers annual meeting. The week-long meeting was held in January 2000 in Orlando, Florida. Shak was among ten student presenters and his paper, the only one focusing on solid state physics, stirred considerable interest and was very well received.
The American Physical Society invited him to present his results at their annual nationwide meeting in Minneapolis on March 21, 2000. Professor Bergmann also presented research findings at this prestigious conference.
In addition, Shak displayed his poster at the USC Second Annual Undergraduate Symposium for Creative and Scholarly Research, sponsored by the Office of the Provost. The poster received first place honors and Shak was awarded the top $500 prize. The Symposium was held on April 26, 2000 at USC and highlighted outstanding scholarly and creative work by undergraduate students in the following disciplines: Arts and Humanities, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering, Professional and Applied Disciplines and Social Sciences.
Shak's winning poster description is: Thin films of Na are covered with 1/100 of a monolayer of Fe or Co. Then the impurities are covered with several atomic layers of Na. The magnetization of the films is measured by means of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE). The magnetization follows a Brillouin function with a magnetic moment of about 6 Bohr magnetons for Co on the surface and in the bulk of the Na. For the Fe impurities a magnetic moment of 6 Bohr magnetons is observed. These large moments suggests that 3d impurities polarize the conduction electrons of the Na similar to the giant moments in Pd. These results confirm our findings of giant moments of Co and Fe in the Cs.
Shak is a junior and has worked in Professor Bergmann's laboratory since 1998. His research group was one of the first to receive USC undergraduate research funding in 1999.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy congratulates Shak and wishes him continued success in his endeavors.
Department of Physics & Astronomy / USC Physics & Astronomy Newsletters /