Using a unique, ultra-low-temperature, ultra-high-precision measuring system, they have been determining how and why the transport properties of the alkali metals deviate from the behavior expected from current models for free-electron metals. They are attempting to determine whether these anomalies can be explained by modifications of free-electron models, or whether they require more exotic alternatives such as a Charge-Density- Wave (CDW). They are studying electrical transport perpendicular to ferromagnetic/normal and ferromagnetic/superconducting metal interfaces both in samples made with a four-gun sputtering system at MSU and samples made by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) at the University of Illinois.
