For almost a decade the Physics Department has had a highly recognized research program in the area of High Temperature Superconductivity (HTSC). Funded research on both bulk and thin-flim HTSC continues under Prof. Z. Z. Sheng, Prof. F. T. Chan, and Dr. Sharon Xiong, a visiting faculty member from the group of Prof. C. W. Chu at the University of Houston.

During the past four years exciting efforts have been made to strengthen the condensed matter physics program here in the department and the overall materials science infrastructure here at the University. Three new condensed matter physicists, Profs. William Oliver, Mark Filipkowski, and Paul Thibado have been added to the Physics faculty during this time. Condensed matter research in physics is currently funded by grants from the NSF, DOD, and the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority with total expenditures during the past year exceeding $650k. An additional $1.5 M NSF grant was also awarded during the past year for developing an MBE facility.

Prof. Oliver has developed a high-pressure laser light scattering laboratory in which he uses diamond anvil cells and a variety of laser and optical techniques to study phase transitions and the structural and dynamic properties of materials as functions of both temperature and pressure. He was recently granted and NSF CAREER award for work on the glass transition at high pressure.

Prof. Filipkowski comes to us from the Naval Research Laboratory and brings a strong background in magnetism and magnetic materials. His research interests include magnetic multilayers with and without nonmagnetic constituents, properties of ultrathin magnetic layers, and various problems involving spin-polarized transport. He has already established a squid magnetometry laboratory, and is currently working on developing MBE facilities and a broadband solid state NMR laboratory for growing and studying magnetic thin films and multilayers.

For a number of years there has been a materials component to a strong applied optics research program in our department under the direction of Prof. Greg Salamo. This has led to a recent large NSF award for developing a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) laboratory with an UHV STM to grow and study III-V semiconducting multilayer materials. Prof. Paul Thibado from the University of Pennsylvania and the Naval Research Laboratory has just joined us to direct a research program in this area.

In addition, a state-of-the-art crystal growing facility is nearing completion under the direction of Profs. Salamo, Oliver, and Xiao. This facility will be used to grow and study oxide ferroelectric nonlinear optical materials. Finally, a strong multidisciplinary research program for high density electronics (HiDEC) exists here at the University and involves most of the above faculty members. During the past four years a state-of-the-art fabrication facility for multichip modules and a suite of analytical techniques has been built or purchased under this program. This growing suite currently includes SEM, STM/AFM, XRD, XPS, Raman scattering, ellipsometry, and other techniques.