at Boston University

Welcome to the homepage of the Surface Physics Laboratory at Boston University.

The surface physics group at Boston University has been one of the pioneers in neutral helium atom scattering from solid surfaces since the mid 1980s, and our facility is one of seven worldwide. The technique is the surface equivalent of thermal neutron scattering from bulk crystals, which has provided valuable information about bulk dynamics and structural phase transitions over the past three decades.

You can find the following information on this website: our research projects, our experimental facilities, our  publications, how to contact us, and information about the current and former members of our group.

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May 3, 2012

Check us out in Physical Review Letters again! Our recent work in quantifying the electron-phonon coupling on the surface of Bi₂Se₃ has been published. We determine a numerical value for the dimensionless electron-phonon coupling constant for a specific phonon branch by examining the imaginary part of the phonon self energy. Since electron-phonon interaction is the dominant scattering mechanism for electrons at the surface, a detailed understanding is essential if these materials are to ever find technological applications. The article can be found here.

October 28, 2011

We have recently published an article on our most recent work regarding the topoligical insulator Bi₂Se₃ in Physical Review Letters! In this paper we examine how the massless Dirac fermions interact with the surface phonon modes. We notice an absence of the usual Rayleigh waves and instead find an unusual convex, isotropic dispersion curve including a strong Kohn anamoly at 2k_f. Click here to have a look!

March 03, 2008

Professor Michael El-Batanouny has been selected as a 2008-2009 Jefferson Science Fellow at the U.S. State Department.

This select fellowship program was established in 2003 as an initiative of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State to expand on scientific expertise within the Department.

Fellows work full-time for one year in the State Department or the U.S. Agency for International Development, after which they remain available to the Department as consultants as they return to their academic careers. The program is centered on the notion that “science and technology make fundamental contributions to the security, economic, health, and cultural foundations of modern societies, and are integral to the development and implementation of foreign policy.

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