WPlummer
Ward Plummer, Ph.D.

Ward Plummer, PhD,
Professor of physics

Ph.D., 1968 - Cornell University

Louisiana State University
Department of Physics & Astronomy
229-C Nicholson Hall, Tower Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4001
(225) 578-3300-Office

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research interests

Experimental Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

Investigations of the phenomena associated with the unique environment at a surface or interface driven by broken symmetry and reduced dimensionality. Specifically of primary interest is the coupling of the electronic, magnetic, and structural properties (static and dynamic) at a surface.

This general theme is being applied by us to study correlated electron matierials (CEMs) with functionalities like high-Tc superconductivity in cuprates, "colossal" magnetoresistance (CMR) in manganites, and superconductivity in the new FeAs based superconductors. The exotic behavior of CEMs is intimately related to the coexistence of competing nearly degenerate states which couple simultaneously active degrees of freedom‹charge, lattice, orbital, and spin states. Our approach is to investigate and hopefully learn how to tune the functionality in these materials by using the manifestations of broken symmetry, reduced dimensionality and spatial confinement.

Current and Selected Publications

  • "Reemergent Metal-Insulator Transitions in Manganites Exposed with Spatial Confinement," Z. Ward, S. H. Liang, K. Fuchigami, L. F. Yin, E. Dagotto, E. W. Plummer, and J. Shen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 247204 (2008).
  • "The Manifestations of Broken Symmetry: Surface Phases of Ca2-xSrxRuO4," G. Moore, V. B. Nascimento, Jiandi Zhang, R. Jin, D. Mandrus, and E. W. Plummer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 066102 (2008).
  • "Surface Reconstructions of TiO2(110) Driven by Sub-Oxides," T. Park, M. H. Pan, V. Meunier, and E. W. Plummer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 226105 (2006).
  • "Visualization of Localized Holes in Manganite Thin Films with Atomic Resolution," J. X. Ma, E. W. Plummer, and J. Shen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95,
    237210 (2005).
  • "Real-Space Observation of Nanoscale Inhomogeneities and Fluctuations in a Phase Transition of a Surface Quasi-One-Dimensional System: In/Si(111)," Geunseop Lee, Jiandong Guo, and E.W. Plummer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 116103 (2005).
  • "Multiple Bosonic Mode Coupling in Electron Self-Energy of (La2-xSrx)CuO4," J. Zhou, Junren Shi, T. Yoshida, T. Cuk, W. L. Yang, V. Brouet, J. Nakamura, N. Mannella, S. Koviya, Y. Ando, F. Zhou, W. X. Ti, J. W. Xiong, Z. X. Zhao, T. Sasagawa, T. Kakeshita, H. Eisaki, S. Uchida, A. Fugimori, Zhenyu Zhang, E. W. Plummer, R. B. Laughlin, Z. Hussain, and Z.-X. Shen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 117001 (2005).
  • "Fermi Surface Topology of Ca1.5Sr0.5RuO4 Determined by ARPES," S.-C. Wang, H.-B. Yang, A. P. Sekharan, S. Souma, H. Matsui, T. Sato, T. Takahashi, Chenxi Lu, Jiandi Zhang, R. Jin, D. Mandrus, E. W. Plummer, Z. Wang, and H. Ding, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 177077 (2004).
  • "Direct Extraction of the Eliashberg Function for Electron-Phonon Coupling: A Case Study of ," Junren Shi, S.-J. Tang, Biao Wu, P. T. Sprunger, W. L. Yang, V. Brouet, X. J. Zhou, Z. Hussain, Z.-X. Shen, Zhenyu Zhang, and E. W. Plummer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 186401 (2004).
  • "Jahn-Teller Phonon Anomaly and Dynamic Phase Fluctuations in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3," Jiandi Zhang, Pengcheng Dai, J. A. Fernandez-Baca, E. W. Plummer, Y. Tomioka, and Y. Tokura, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3823 (2001).
  • "Defect-Mediated Condensation of a Charge Density Wave," H. H. Weitering, J. M. Carpinelli, A. V. Melechko, Jiandi Zhang, M. Bartkowiak, and E. W. Plummer, Science 285, 2107­2110 (1999).
  • "Direct Observation of a Surface Charge Density Wave," J. M. Carpinelli, H. H. Weitering, E. W. Plummer, and R. Stumpf, Nature 381, 398 (1996).