The rare earth metals are becoming increasingly applicable in our everyday life. The enormous importance of rare earths in the technology, environment, and economy is attracting scientists all over the world to investigate them starting from the extraction to the physical and chemical properties measurements. Although a lot of works have been done on the experimentation of rare earths, the true understanding from theory and modeling on these materials is lagging behind. Here, we propose to perform systematic theoretical research from the density functional theory applicable to rare earths and also study suitable models in order to compare their finite temperature properties obtained from precise experiments.
Program mentor: Durga Paudyal, Assistant Scientist III, Ames Laboratory