My research interest is that of phase transformations, like melting, solidification, and liquid(amorphous)-liquid(amorphous) transitions. Here at LLNL I’ve recently been studying the kinetics of pressure-induced phase transformations, which have have been much less studied than temperature-induced phase transformation. As a tool to study these subjects I’m developing new technology, called the dynamic diamond anvil cell (D-DAC) technique, in which the pressure can be dynamically changed and controlled by a piezo-actuator, which is not possible in a traditional static pressure study. I want to study intermediate phenomena between static and shock compression with this device and hopefully find a link between them. By combining scattering techniques like Raman, x-ray, and neutron, in-situ time resolved spectroscopy to understand structural changes during the phase transition can be done.

The other research topics which I have experienced during my Ph.D. period (Washington University in St. Louis, 2004) are undercooling, nucleation, and the relationship between nucleation barrier and local structure of liquids and crystals. For these studies, several experiments are required such as containless technique, i.e., electrostatic levitation for undercooling, x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for understanding the structure of liquids and crystals, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for micro-structural study, and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) for thermal analysis.