Material Sciences (MAT)

The Material Science Department is a part of the LCLS Science, Research and Development (SRD) division of LCLS. Our mission is to collaborate with the scientific community to successfully field LCLS experiments, and to drive material science research at the LCLS. We strive to understand fundamental processes critical to the functioning of complex materials and devices, including exotic quantum materials, low energy microelectronics and other fundamental energy technologies. We use the coherent, bright and ultrashort X-ray pulses from the LCLS to probe materials using a suite of cutting-edge techniques from ultrafast pump-probe scattering and resonant inelastic scattering to X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy and photoelectron momentum-microscopy, all at the length and time-scales most relevant to obtain insights into functioning of material systems.

The department has diverse research interests ranging from studies of phase transitions, correlations and fluctuations between charge-spin-lattice at the heart of quantum materials to multiscale heterogeneity and its impact on function, aging and failure of materials. We are also keenly interested in advancing experimental methodologies and inventing new approaches to glean deep insights into functioning materials by developing new ways to use ultrafast X-ray lasers and electron sources to probe materials, as well as developing  sophisticated analysis method based on emerging computational and machine-learning concepts.