Seidler Group Research
UW Physics

Our group's research focuses on the development and application of novel x-ray spectroscopies to problems of basic, applied, and environmental energy sciences. We have a number of different main thrusts and collaborations, including:

• Charge transfer upon lithiation/delithiation of novel electrode materials for lithium ion batteries.  Two projects (with the Cao group in the Materials Science Department at UW and with the Balasubramnian team at ANL/APS) are aimed at understanding basic issues of charge transfer in the electrodes, improving battery performance, and decreasing negative environmental impact and/or health hazards from materials used in existing commercial technology.  These projects use existing capabilities at the XOR/PNC sector of the Advanced Photon Source and also use the Seidler group's LERIX and miniXS spectrometers. 
• Chemical bonding in actinide (5f) systems for improved processing of nuclear fission reactor fuels and wastes:  This collaboration with Steve Conradson and Dave Clark of LANL makes use of numerous x-ray spectroscopic methods, including the LERIX and miniXS spectrometers, to better understand chemical bonding in actinide oxides, nitrides, and related ligand compounds.  In addition to the basic research importance of gaining a detailed insight into the electronic structure of these strongly-correlated materials, it is important to note that such information may lead to improved lanthanide/actinide separations chemistry -- thus resulting in less expensive and more environmentally friendly processing of nuclear fission reactor fuels and their waste products.
• X-ray nonlinear effects:  The imminent commissioning of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at SLAC  will be a watershed event for x-ray science.  In addition to allowing forefront studies on biomolecular structure and the temporal dynamics of chemical reactions, the LCLS will also be the first light source with the peak power to stimulate x-ray nonlinear effects.  Our group is funded by the DOE to pursue this basic issue while also constructing instrumentation to be used more broadly in collaborations with other teams at the LCLS, especially those focusing on pump-probe spectroscopies of solid and molecular phases.
• Local electronic structure in poymeric solar cells: We are collaborating with the groups of David Ginger (UW Chemistry) and Christine Lascomb (UW Materials Science) on studies of the x-ray absorption near edge structure of new polymer sand polymer/nanoparticle composites for solar cell applications.
• Local coordination in transition-metal based fuel cell catalysts: We are also performing x-ray emission spectroscopy studies with a teams at LANL and ANL aiimed at better understanding the local atomic coordination and electronic structure of new catalysts for fuel cell applications.
• Continued development of novel x-ray spectroscopy instrumentation:  We’ve developed both a major spectrometer for nonresonant inelastic x-ray scattering, the Lower Energy Resolution Inelastic X-ray scattering (LERIX) spectrometer, and also a new approach to x-ray spectrometer design for x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS).  For information on LERIX and its many applications see the LERIX page.  For our new approach to XES/RIXS see the miniXS page.
  

 In the next five years, we expect to emphasize studies of nano- and bulk-phase systems relevant for clean energy, basic questions involving correlated electron phenomenon in f-electron systems, and continued development of miniXS-style spectrometers. We work closely with John Rehr’s theory group, and graduate students often have theory side-projects en route to their dissertation.

Please see the list of publications for a more comprehensive perspective on our work.

Nothing happens in any research group without great students.  See the personnel page for more information about our team.