ABSTRACT
Energy Sustainability is a Materials agenda – this statement arises from the fundamental assessment that we must be interested in energy-dense materials, which thus make use of “small” electrons packed to the highest possible density. These are by definition “strongly correlated”. For example: efficient solid state refrigeration depends on substantial entropy changes in a unit cell, with large local electrical or magnetic moments; the limit of an efficient battery is a super-capacitor employing mixed valent ions; fuel cells and solar to fuel conversion require us to understand electrochemistry on the scale of a single atom; we already know that the only prospect for effective high temperature superconductivity involves strongly correlated materials. While physics continue to excite researchers and the public alike because of the fundamental science issues, it seems increasingly likely support for the science will be leveraged by its impact on energy and sustainability.
BIOGRAPHY
Prof Siddharth Saxena is a Principal Research Associateship (Prof Rank) at the Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge and also Director of Cambridge Central Asia Forum. He also concurrently holds Professorships at BMU Tashkent and KBTU Almaty. In his research in the field of experimental physics, he focuses on the science of strongly correlated electrons, superconductivity, and magnetism. He has discovered four new superconductors, including the first ferromagnetic superconductor. He was awarded an International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Young Scientist Medal in 2006. In his academic work on Central Asia, Dr Saxena has been actively involved in fieldbased research for over 20 years with a particular focus on Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, as well as working in Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. He was awarded a Medal for Service to Education in Kazakhstan, and Presidential Medals of Honour from both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in 2011.
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