Dr. Alannah Hallas

Abstract

The field of high entropy oxides (HEOs) flips traditional materials science paradigms on their head by seeking to understand what properties arise in the presence of profound configurational disorder. This disorder, which emerges as the result of multiple elements sharing a single crystalline lattice, can take on a kaleidoscopic character due to the vast numbers of possible elemental combinations and appears to imbue some HEOs with functional properties that far surpass their conventional analogs. However, the actual degree of  configurational disorder, its role in stabilizing the HEO phase, and its effect on other physical properties such as magnetism all remain open questions. In my talk, I will discuss my group's efforts towards addressing these questions using x-ray and neutron methods.

Speaker Bio

Alannah Hallas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia. She heads the Quantum Materials Design Lab, which is part of the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute. Before starting her faculty position at UBC in 2019, she completed her PhD in Physics at McMaster University in 2017 and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Rice University. Alannah’s research centers on the design and discovery of new magnetic quantum materials, whose quantum properties she studies using x-rays, neutrons, and muons. Having worked in both physics and chemistry departments, she is passionate about taking an interdisciplinary approach to the study of quantum materials.  Alannah is a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar and a Sloan Research Fellow. When she's not growing crystals or at the beam line, Alannah loves cooking (and eating!), playing bridge, and learning to sail in the waters around beautiful British Columbia.