E V Sampathkumaran, Emeritus Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai delivered a Distinguished Lecture on “Behaviour of 4f electrons, a puzzle for decades?” at the University of Hyderabad (UoH).
Sampathkumaran, in his lecture, presented a detailed history of 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.
He continued his discussions further to various valence fluctuating systems such as CeCu2Si2, EuCu2Si2 etc. In addition, he also explained the contribution of 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.
Courtesy: TOI