COLLABORATION IN BASIC SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (COBASE)

Janice Musfeldt welcomed Ana Smontara and her graduate student Ante Bilusic of the Institute of Physics, Zagreb, for a two-week visit in March-April 2001. The aim of this brief visit was both to familiarize the Croatians with the facilities and instruments available in Musfeldt’s lab and to explore possible areas of collaboration in the study of the electronic and vibrational properties of low-dimensional inorganic materials.

During their stay at the University of Tennessee, Smontara and Bilusic each presented seminars on their work. They learned to use the infrared microscope and ran some 300 K and low-temperature experiments on a new superconductor, RuSr2GdCu2O8. Smontara took an interest in Musfeldt’s ongoing spectroscopic work on tungsten monophosphate bronzes and has requested samples from the crystal grower so that she may conduct complimentary thermoconductivity measurements on the compounds.

Future collaborative plans are not yet set, but it is possible that a Croatian student may be invited to attend graduate school at the University of Tennessee. The research environment in Croatia is fairly difficult at this time, so Musfeldt has also issued a standing invitation to Smontara and Bilusic to return to Knoxville when they need to use her equipment for their experiments.

Ana Smontara (left) and Ante Bilusic visiting the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.