Frances Hellman

LBNL Faculty Senior Scientist
Professor of Physics
Univ. of California, Berkeley
fhellman@berkeley.edu

phone: 510-642-6135

Education
B.A. Physics, Dartmouth College
Ph.D Applied Physics, Stanford University
Postdoctoral Fellow AT&T Bell Labs

Major Awards
2006 APS Keithley Instrumentation Award
2000 Elected Chair of APS Topical Group in Magenetism and its Applications
1997 Elected Chair of APS Division of Materials Physics
1997 Fellow of the Americal Physics Society


General Research Interests
My research group is concerned with the properties of novel magnetic, semiconducting and superconducting materials especially in thin film form. We use specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity, and other measurements as a function of temperature in order to test and develop models for materials which challenge our understanding of metallic behavior. Current research includes: effects of spin on transport and tunneling, including studies of amorphous magnetic semiconductors and spin injection from ferromagnets into Si; magnetic and thermodynamic properties of nanoscale systems; formation of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in magnetic thin films and effects of the vapor-deposition growth process on the structure of thin film amorphous and crystalline materials. We also have an extensive effort in the development of calorimetry for thin films, small bulk samples, and polymers, using Si-micromachining to fabricate membrane-based nanocalorimeters and in situ heater stage devices for microscopy, spectroscopy, and scattering at ALS.

MSD Research Projects:
Magnetic Materials

Personal website: http://physics.berkeley.edu/research/hellman/

Schematic and photo of nanocalorimeter: a 4 mm2 membrane 30-50 nm thick with heaters and thermometers on top surface. Samples are deposited on the back surface through a micromachined Si evaporation mask.