Prof. E. V. Sampathkumaran, Emeritus Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai delivered a Distinguished Lecture on “Behaviour of 4f electrons, a puzzle for decades?” on January 30, 2019 at the University of Hyderabad.
Prof. Sampathkumaran, in his lecture presented a detailed history about the complex nature of the ‘f’ electrons in the periodic table. He started his talk with the classic example of Cerium in which the valence fluctuation was first observed under pressure. In continuation, he also explained the pressure induced valence fluctuations in SmS retaining the structure.
Prof. Sampathkumaran continued his discussions further to various valence fluctuating systems such as CeCu2Si2, EuCu2Si2 etc. In addition he also explained the contribution the 4f electrons towards the magnetism in various rare-earth intermetallic compounds. In conclusion the speaker also mentioned the open challenges in the field of ‘f’ electron which one can try to address. Overall it was nice journey in the field of f-electrons Physics.
Prof. Arun Agarwal, Pro Vice Chancellor 1 presided. Prof. Bindu A Bambah, Dean, School of Physics gave the welcome, Prof. Seshu Bai introduced the speaker while Dr. G Vaitheeswaran gave the words of Thanks. The lecture was attended by students, staff and faculty of the university.
-By Dr. G Vaitheeswaran, School of Physics