Ken Elder
Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 48309-4487
 Research Interests
 Research Interests
Morphological patterns occur on every length scale in nature, from cosmic strings in the early universe to sand ripples on a beach to hexagonally ordered vortex lattices in superconductors. The main focus of my research is on understanding the formation of such complex morphologies in condensed matter physics. This research has included spinodal decomposition, Ostwald ripening, eutectic solidification, order/disorder transitions and amorphous/crystal transitions and other pattern forming phenomena such as Rayleigh-Benard convection, flame front propagation explosive crystallization, the decay of supercurrents in superconducting rings, the motion of charge density waves, the absorption of liquids by random media (or imbibition) and phase separation in fluids. More recently I have, in collaboration with others, developed a method known as "Phase Field Crystal" modeling to study elastic and plastic deformation in a wide variety of non-equilibrium phenomena.
Morphological patterns occur on every length scale in nature, from cosmic strings in the early universe to sand ripples on a beach to hexagonally ordered vortex lattices in superconductors. The main focus of my research is on understanding the formation of such complex morphologies in condensed matter physics. This research has included spinodal decomposition, Ostwald ripening, eutectic solidification, order/disorder transitions and amorphous/crystal transitions and other pattern forming phenomena such as Rayleigh-Benard convection, flame front propagation explosive crystallization, the decay of supercurrents in superconducting rings, the motion of charge density waves, the absorption of liquids by random media (or imbibition) and phase separation in fluids. More recently I have, in collaboration with others, developed a method known as "Phase Field Crystal" modeling to study elastic and plastic deformation in a wide variety of non-equilibrium phenomena.