Physics of Materials Laboratory

Physics Department, University of Ioannina, Greece

History

   The Laboratory was founded in 1970 by Prof. N.-H. Gangas, who established the experimental technique of Moessbauer spectroscopy at the Physics Department of the University of Ioannina. Later, Dr I. Sigalas and Dr Ch. Dedes were hired as staff members of the Laboratory, and A. Moukarika and T. Bakas were the first post- graduate students. Initially the main research orientation of the group was directed to the study of the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of ceramics, clays, archaeological ceramics and intercalated layered structures. The group developed collaborative research with other groups, at the Institute of Materials Science of the National Center for Scientific Research "Demokritos" in Athens. Simultaneously, international collaboration with the group of Prof. J.M.D. Coey at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, was also established.
   After 1989 Prof. Vassilis Papaefthymiou became director of the Laboratory, until 2005. During that period, the group established a close collaboration with the group of Prof. G. Hadjipanayis at the University of Delaware, USA and with Prof. M. Kanatzidis, at Michigan State University, USA.
   Currently, the group is in close collaboration with other Laboratories, in Greece as well in other European countries. The last years the research group of the Physics of Materials Laboratory at the Physics Department of the University of Ioannina is focusing its research activities on the preparation of new materials, of which the major part is dedicated to the preparation of novel nanostructures like magnetic nanoparticles, hybrid nanostructured materials and thin films and the study of their morphological, structural, electronic and magnetic properties. The group is also involved in the characterization and study of the properties of bulk and nanostructured materials of geological, archeological, catalytic and biomedical interest, as well as of novel materials for magneto-electronic applications (half-metals and ferromagnetic semiconductors).