J. D. Axe

College of Central Florida

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S. C. Moss

University of Houston

G. Shirane

Brookhaven National Laboratory

H. J. Stapleton

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

J. M. Hastings

Brookhaven National Laboratory

L. M. Corliss

Brookhaven National Laboratory

D. B. McWhan

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

John B. Hayter

Institut Laue-Langevin

S. Bar-Ziv

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (Israel)

Walter Roth

South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences

D. T. Keating

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Cooperative Institutions

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Argonne National Laboratory

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Brookhaven College

The University of Tokyo

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Harvard University

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

University of California, Berkeley

Cornell University

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Gen Shirane

Physics Today (2005)

J. D. Axe R. J. Birgeneau M. Blume S. M. Shapiro

Gen Shirane, one of the world’s foremost authorities on using neutron scattering as a probe of solids, and who for more than half a century was a leader in developing techniques by which high-flux nuclear research reactors were transformed into premier tools for studying condensed matter physics, died of a stroke at his home in Bellport, New York, on 16 January 2005.Born in Nishinomiya, Japan, on 15 May 1924, Gen received a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from the University of Tokyo in 1947 and worked briefly at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. In the evolving society of post—World War II Japan, he was impatient with the old hierarchical ways of Japanese science; even before receiving his PhD in science from the University of Tokyo in 1954, he set off for Pennsylvania State University, where he worked from 1952 to 1957. His early experiments at Penn State and Tokyo used x-ray scattering, and his scientific interests were in symmetry-breaking phase transformations in ferroelectric materials and in the materials’ resulting piezoelectric and nonlinear optical properties. During this period he coauthored with Franco Jona a book on ferroelectricity that is a classic reference still used by workers in the field.In 1957 Gen moved to Westing-house Research Laboratories in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and his interests broadened to include magnetic materials, the newly discovered Mössbauer effect, and neutron diffraction. The neutron-scattering experiments were carried out mostly at the graphite reactor at Brookhaven National Laboratory. One of Gen’s first experiments there was pioneering work with Robert Nathans, Clifford Shull, and Arne Andersen that demonstrated an important method for producing polarized neutrons. Gen moved permanently to Brookhaven in 1963, as the Brookhaven High Flux Beam Reactor construction was being completed, and he contributed to the development of a suite of experimental instruments. The increased neutron flux made possible inelastic neutron-scattering experiments using the triple-axis spectrometer developed by Bertram Brockhouse in Canada. Optimizing the signal-to-noise ratio in these instruments is an art form in which Gen quickly established himself as a virtuoso, and that expertise led ultimately to his publication, with co-authors Stephen Shapiro and John Tranquada, of the definitive monograph on that subject.Although his ability to tease signals out of noisy data was phenomenal, it was not his most impressive talent. He had an unerring sense of where neutrons could make a difference in the understanding of the physics of materials and how to develop the techniques needed to perform the requisite experiments, and an ability to attract the collaborators most able to help attack these critical problems. In the 1970s his collaborations led to pioneering studies of low-dimensional magnetic systems, and somewhat later to low-dimensional structural phase transformations as well. Those studies illuminated the increased importance of fluctuations in lower-dimensional systems. Gen was principally responsible for an in-house effort that confirmed the soft-mode theory of structural phase transformations in a variety of systems and discovered previously unenvisioned features, such as interpenetrating incommensurate lattices.In Gen’s body of work, which includes nearly 700 published papers, a further unifying thread involves the properties of superconductors. He performed the first neutron-scattering experiments to show the effect of a superconducting energy gap on phonon linewidths, a key prediction of Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory. But perhaps the pinnacle of Gen’s distinguished career involves his studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s of high-temperature superconductors. All of his experience in perovskite-like structures, magnetism, lower-dimensional phenomena, and superconductivity came together beautifully in that series of experiments. He and his collaborators performed seminal studies of the magnetic fluctuations in both the insulating parent materials and their superconducting counterparts. He also re-turned to the use of × rays at the National Synchrotron Light Source, combining those experiments with neutron scattering to further the attempts at understanding these materials. While there is not yet a consensus on the detailed mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity, Gen’s results provide a crucial foundation for the common belief that antiferromagnetic correlations play a fundamental role.Gen was very aware that society had entrusted him with an expensive research tool, and he felt personally responsible for seeing that it was used productively. He was unapologetic in his belief that he was a better judge of the merits and probable success of proposed research than a more egalitarian user committee would be. The productivity of the neutron-scattering group at Brookhaven was unsurpassed under his leadership and provides substantial support for his view.His early emigration notwithstanding, Gen retained an intense interest in Japanese science. He established strong and continuing collaborations between US and Japanese researchers, and through example and constant mentoring he promoted rapid recognition and advancement of younger Japanese scientists.Gen’s scientific achievements have been recognized with a series of honors, including the Warren Award of the American Crystallographic Association (corecipient, 1973), and the Buckley Prize of the American Physical Society (1973). He was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 1989 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1991.Personally responsible for training an entire generation of neutron scatterers, he is remembered as a stern taskmaster. Ernest Rutherford was said to have once remarked, “I do not let my boys waste their time.” Gen would have concurred and added, “Or waste neutrons either.” He once said to one of us, “There are only two experiments that matter—the first and the best. And the ultimate is when they are both the same.” Nothing less than superior science was ever acceptable to him. Perhaps his most lasting legacy is the many scientists who struggled to meet his exacting standards and who now populate elite research centers worldwide. It falls to them to recall and pass along to a new generation some of Gen’s enthusiasm, dedication, and passion for both science and life. Gen Shirane BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORYPPT|High resolution© 2005 American Institute of Physics.

10.1063/1.2155771

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Incommensurate structures

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences (1980)

J. D. Axe

A review is given of recent neutron scattering studies of displacive incommensurate structures, and the instabilities that occur within periodic crystalline structures that lead to their formation. The concept of a soft phonon, in some cases associated with an electronic screening anomaly, is useful but not always capable of a completely satisfactory description. An unusual one-dimensional liquid-like phase has been studied in the non-stoichiometric mercury compound Hg 3-8 AsF 6.

Stoichiometry

Anomaly (physics)

Mercury

10.1098/rstb.1980.0118

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Recent progress in commensurate-incommensurate phase transformations. [Hg/sub 3/-delta AsF/sub 6/; 2H polytype of TaSe/sub 2/]

J. D. Axe

Three topics are discussed. (1) the nature of long wavelength excitations in Hg/sub 3/-delta AsF/sub 6/, where gapless excitations in addition to the conventional acoustic modes are observed. (2) Thiourea, in which new commensurate phases can be induced by an external electric field. (3) Discommensurations in 2HTaSe/sub 2/, where recent electron diffraction and high resolution x-ray data combine with neutron results to establish a quite complex and subtle behavior. 9 figures.

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The structure of self-assembled monolayers of alkylsiloxanes on silicon: a comparison of results from ellipsometry and low-angle x-ray reflectivity

Journal of the American Chemical Society (1989)

Stephen R. Wasserman George M. Whitesides I. M. Tidswell Ben Ocko P. S. Pershan

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTThe structure of self-assembled monolayers of alkylsiloxanes on silicon: a comparison of results from ellipsometry and low-angle x-ray reflectivityStephen R. Wasserman, George M. Whitesides, Ian M. Tidswell, Ben M. Ocko, Peter S. Pershan, and John D. AxeCite this: J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1989, 111, 15, 5852–5861Publication Date (Print):July 1, 1989Publication History Published online1 May 2002Published inissue 1 July 1989https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja00197a054https://doi.org/10.1021/ja00197a054research-articleACS PublicationsRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views2435Altmetric-Citations363LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-AlertscloseSupporting Info (1)»Supporting Information Supporting Information Get e-Alerts

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Ellipsometry

10.1021/ja00197a054

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Citations (402)

Lattice dynamics of neon at high pressure. [Phonon dispersion relations; Grueneisen parameter]

Juergen Eckert J. D. Axe W. B. Daniels

The phonon dispersion relations in a high-density Ne crystal have been measured in the (110),(110), and (111) symmetry directions at 8K using a triple-axis neutron spectrometer. The crystal was grown at a pressure of 6 kbar and at 82K in a new high pressure sample holder. A Born--von Karman force constant analysis indicated that the interatomic forces in Ne remain predominantly central in nature at this density. The data were found to be well represented in the harmonic approximation by a Lennard--Jones potential with epsilon = 50.8 x 10/sup -16/ erg and sigma = 2.818 A. A newly analyzed combination of three previous neutron scattering studies of phonon dispersion relations in Ne crystals of approximately equilibrium density was used in conjunction with the present results to derive a dispersion of quasiharmonic mode Grueneisen parameters. These were appropriately summed to obtain the macroscopic Grueneisen parameter. Quasi-harmonic calculations were shown to overestimate the compression dependence of phonon energies in Ne.

Dispersion relation

Lattice (music)

Lattice constant

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Neutron scattering study of the soft mode in the strongly anisotropic antiferromagnet RbFeCl3

Solid State Communications (1981)

H. Yoshizawa J. D. Axe G. Shirane

Soft modes

10.1016/0038-1098(81)91147-9

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Citations (27)

Synchrotron X-ray study of the orientational ordering in single-crystal C₆₀

Acta Crystallographica Section A Foundations of Crystallography (1993)

P. Wochner Paul Chow George Reiter S. C. Moss J. D. Axe

10.1107/s0108767378091692

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An overview of neutron scattering studies of incommensurate phases

Acta Crystallographica Section A Foundations of Crystallography (1987)

J. D. Axe

10.1107/s0108767387077201

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Lattice-dynamical properties of black phosphorus under pressure studied by inelastic neutron scattering

Physical review. B, Condensed matter (1984)

Y. Yamada Y. Fujii Yuichi Akahama S. Endo Shin‐ichiro Narita

Acoustic-phonon dispersion relations of black phosphorus in its orthorhombic $A11$ phase have been measured along three principal directions mainly at 1 bar and 15.4 kbar. An anomalous softening has been observed on the LA[100] branch whose vibrational patterns (eigenvectors) have been analyzed based on a force-constant-model fit by Kaneta et al. It is suggested that this softening is caused through electron-phonon interactions associated with a large change in bonding angles. The ${\mathrm{TA}}_{y}[001]$ mode at the zone boundary, which can be assigned to the atomic displacements relevant to the $A11$-to-$A7$ (rhombohedral) structural transition at 45 kbar, does not soften, but at least the hardening shows a tendency to saturate at pressure higher than 15.4 kbar.

Orthorhombic crystal system

Dispersion relation

10.1103/physrevb.30.2410

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Citations (35)

On the acoustic signature of golf ball impact

Journal of Sports Sciences (2002)

Kevin Shannon J. D. Axe

Abstract In this paper, we present results on the measurement and analysis of the sound that is produced by the sharp impact loading of a golf ball by a flat massive object (e.g. the face of a golf club). We discuss: (a) the motivation for such a study; (b) some necessary background information on how golf balls vibrate; (c) the techniques used to acquire and analyse the data; and (d) an analysis of the sound made by dropping balls on a smooth, massive concrete target surface. These results establish a simple method for rapid and non-destructive measurement of the effective high-frequency elastic shear moduli of balls and ball cores. Keywords: Elastic Properties Of Golf BallsGolf Ball ImpactImpact Acoustics

Ball (mathematics)

10.1080/026404102320183194

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Citations (6)