Lekhanath Poudel

Lekhanath Poudel completed his undIMG_4062ergraduate (2005) and Masters’ (2007) from Tribhuvan University in Nepal.  He joined UT in the fall of 2010, and joined this group in the summer of 2011. He is working in collaboration with Dr. Mandrus (synthesis) and Dr. Christianson (neutron scattering) at UT and ORNL.  He is interested in magnetism, unconventional superconductivity, and quantum criticality.

He is currently involved in the study of the quantum phase transitions in the heavy fermion systems using neutron scattering experiments. As a part of the project, he synthesizes the single crystals using various techniques, in particular, the Czochralski Process.

In the following clip, he demonstrates the growth of CeCu6 from the Czochralski process. A polycrystalline button of CeCu6 is melted by three stingers in a tri-arc furnace. The chamber is continuously purged with flowing  ultra high purity argon. The seed rod is rotated and slowly pulled upward to grow a homogeneous single crystal from the melt.

Publications:

  • L. Poudel, A. F. May, M. R. Koehler, M. A. McGuire, S. Mukhopadhyay, S. Calder, R. E. Baumbach, R. Mukherjee, D. Sapkota, C. de la Cruz, D. J. Singh, D. Mandrus, A. D. Christianson, ”Candidate Elastic Quantum Critical Point in LaCu6−xAux”, arXiv:1608.01744

  • G. Rau, L.S. Wu, A.F. May, L. Poudel, B. Winn, V.O. Garlea, A. Huq, P. Whitfield, A. E. Taylor, M. D. Lumsden, MJP Gingras, A.D. Christianson, “Anisotropic Exchange within Decoupled Tetrahedra in the Quantum Breathing Pyrochlore Ba3Yb2Zn5O11”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 257204 (2016)
  • L. Poudel, C. de la Cruz, E.A. Payzant, A.F. May, M. Koehler, V.O. Garlea, A.E. Taylor, D.S. Parker, H.B. Cao, M.A. McGuire, W. Tian, M. Matsuda, H. Jeen, H.N. Lee, T. Hong, S. Calder, H.D. Zhou, M.D. Lumsden, V. Keppens, D. Mandrus, A.D. Christianson, “Structural and magnetic phase transitions in CeCu6-xTx (T = Ag, Pd).”  Physical Review B 92 (21), 214421 (2015).
  • E. Taylor, T. Berlijn, S. E. Hahn, A. F. May, T. J. Williams, L. Poudel, S. Calder, R. S. Fishman, M. B. Stone, A. A. Aczel, H. B. Cao, M. D. Lumsden, and A. D. Christianson, “Influence of interstitial Mn on magnetism in the room-temperature ferromagnet Mn1+δSb”, Phys. Rev. B 91, 224418 (2015)
  • Sirica, F. Bondino, S. Nappini, I. Píš, L. Poudel, A. D. Christianson, D. Mandrus, D. J. Singh, and N. Mannella, “Spectroscopic evidence for strong quantum spin fluctuations with itinerant character in YFe2Ge2”, Phys. Rev. B 91, 121102(R) (2015)
  • C.H. Wang, L. Poudel, A. E. Taylor, J. M. Lawrence, A. D. Christianson, S. Chang, J. A. Rodriguez-Rivera, J. W. Lynn, A. A. Podlesnyak, G. Ehlers, R. E. Baumbach, E. D. Bauer, K. Gofryk, F. Ronning, K. J. McClellan and J. D. Thompson, “Quantum critical fluctuations in the heavy fermion compound Ce(Ni0.935Pd0.065)2Ge2”, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 27 (1), 015602 (2014)
  • Cao, A. Subedi, S. Calder, J.-Q. Yan, J. Yi, Z. Gai, L. Poudel, D. J. Singh, M. D. Lumsden, A. D. Christianson, B. C. Sales, and D. Mandrus, “Magnetism and electronic structure of La2ZnIrO6and La2MgIrO6: Candidate Jeff=1/2 Mott insulators”, Phys. Rev. B 87, 155136 (2013).

Presentations:

  • “Unconventional quantum critical phenomenon of CeCu5.8Ag0.2” Presented at the American Conference of Neutron Scattering, Long Beach, California, 2016
  • “Possibility of a ferroelastic Quantum Critical Point in LaCu6-xAux” Presented at the American Physical Society March meeting, Baltimore, MD, 2016.
  • “Structural and magnetic phase transitions in CeCu6-xTx  (T= Ag, Pd) (poster)”, MMM | Intermag 2016 conference, San Diego, CA, 2016.
  • “Magnetic phase transitions in CeCu6-xTx (T = Ag, Pd) (poster)”, Workshop on Strongly Correlated Electron Materials, 2015, Rice University, Houston.
  • “A Structural Quantum Critical Point in LaCu6-xAux(Poster)”, SNS/HFIR User Group (SHUG) 2015 User Meeting, Oak Ridge, TN, October 26-27.
  • “Doping Dependence of the Structural and Magnetic Properties of CeCu6-xTx (T= Ag, Pd)”,  American Physical Society March meeting (2015), San Antonio, TX.
  • “Doping Dependence of the Structural and Magnetic Properties of CeCu6-xTx (T = Ag, Pd)”, American conference on neutron scattering (2014), Knoxville, TN.
  • “Doping dependence of structural transitions in LaCu6-xAgx “, American Physical Society March meeting (2014), Denver, Colorado.

Contact: 

Lekh Poudel (lpoudel@vols.utk.edu)

Prof. Mandrus Research Group

Department of Material Science and Engineering,

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996

and

Lekh Poudel (poudelln@ornl.gov)

Graduate Research Student,

Quantum Condensed Matter Division

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

PO BOX 2008 MS6455

Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6455

Building 8600, Rm D-304