Professor Oriol Valls

These researchers are using MSI for two projects:

• The group is continuing and enhancing their project on superconducting spin valves and on switching phenomena in superconductor-ferromagnet (S/F) heterostructures. The emphasis will be on charge and spin transport in Josephson S/F/N/F/S ferromagnetic junctions and will emphasize situations where spin orbit coupling is important. The researchers use numerical methods which they have developed to solve the exact microscopic equations for such systems. These methods have been shown to yield detailed agreement with experiment for equilibrium properties. Then, via transfer matrix methods, these methods are used to calculate  transport properties in such a way that conservation laws are guaranteed to be satisfied. The computations require the parallel computing capabilities available at MSI.
• The group is studying Active Matter, i.e., condensed matter with active elements. The researchers use both Monte Carlo simulations and Density Functional Theory procedures. Both involve the numerical solution of nonlinear systems of partial differential equations.