9870034 Fisk This experimental condensed matter physics project investigates ground states which lie near the Kondo insulator ground state, which has a ratio of conduction electron concentration to occupied magnetic orbitals e/f = 1. The hypothesis being investigated is that intermediate valence states lie near e/f = 1, as well as the heavy Fermion superconducting state. The experimental program will study doped UBe13, CeIn3 under pressure, the alloy series Sr1-xSmx B6 and single crystals of various intermediate valence materials. Temperature dependent transport, thermodynamic and optical properties will be studied. The research provides excellent training for graduate students in the areas of materials synthesis and characterization. %%% This experimental condensed matter physics program seeks to understand how the loss of magnetism in a compound, happening through changing pressure applied to the compound or changing the chemistry of the compound, leads to essentially new properties of such compounds, most notably superconductivity. The hypothesis around which the experiments are organized is that the most interesting physical properties occur near where the number of charge carriers equals the number of magnetic sites in the compound. Magnetic, electrical and optical properties are measured. The work is addressing questions important to the physics of high temperature superconductivity, as well as exotic magnetically based superconductors and insulators. The research provides excellent training for graduate students in the areas of materials synthesis and characterization. ***
