Current Research

    Professor Smith works in collaboration with colleagues at UNO and UNL to investigate new high-dielectric, ferroelectric, and related materials through the use of reliable and efficient computer simulations. Professor Smith then conducts the synthesis of those materials that calculations predict will be most useful in the applications desired.
The aforesaid materials occupy a very important niche within the electronics industry. Applications for these materials include, but are not limited to: ferroelectric thin films, dynamic random memories, nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memories, ferroelectric optical memories (the latter three applications occur in computer memories), frequency converters, microwave phase shifters, transducers (for application in hydrophones), micromechanical actuators and pumps (for use in small-scale fluid flow), optical waveguides, and pyroelectric detectors.
Because of their importance, many resources are expended on the development of new materials with improved properties. Professor Smith and his colleagues believe they are able to eliminate time-consuming and costly trial-and-error syntheses of new materials by vetting systems through computer simulations first. The increased capability of computer simulation techniques due to faster processors, cheaper memory, and increasingly reliable interatomic potentials make this approach very attractive and profitable.
Professor Smith and colleagues have focused their attention primarily on fluoroperovskites and other ionic materials that are conducive toward the types of computer simulations described above. Synthesis includes standard solid-state techniques and thin-film methods. Characterization is by x-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, and dielectric spectroscopy.

Recent Key Publications

C. Duan, W. N. Mei, J. Liu, W. G. Yin, J. R. Hardy, R. W. Smith, M. J. Mehl, and L. L. Boyer, “Electronic Properties of NaCdF₃: A First-Principles Prediction”, Phys. Rev. B 69, 033102 (2004).

J. Liu, C. Duan, W. G. Yin, W. N. Mei, R. W. Smith, and J. R. Hardy, “Dielectric Permittivity and Electric Modulus in Bi₂Ti₄O₁₁”, J. Chem. Phys. 119, 2812 (2003).

J. Liu, C. Duan, W. N. Mei, R. W. Smith, and J. R. Hardy, “Polymorphous Transformations in Alkaline-Earth Silicates”, J. Chem. Phys. 116, 3864 (2002).

J. Liu, C. Duan, W. N. Mei, R. W. Smith, and J. R. Hardy, “Order-Disorder Structural Phase Transitions in Alkali Perchlorates”, J. Solid State Chem. 163, 294 (2002).

R. W. Smith, W. N. Mei, J. W. Flocken, M. J. Dudik, and J. R. Hardy, “Polymorphic Phase Transitions in Mixed Alkali Magnesium Fluoride Solid Solutions”, Materials Research Bulletin 35, 341 (2000).