Christian Stenz Email and Phone Number

On the basis of the chemical bonding descriptors ES (electrons shared) and ET (electrons transferred) incorporated in the bonding map (https://materials-map.rwth-aachen.de) a profound understanding of the material group of phase change materials (PCMs) has already been achieved. Due to the high demand of PCMs for technical applications (e.g. PCRAM or Bluray-Discs) a large knowledge base about the influence of the PCMs' p-electrons to the bonding character has been acquired. By far less detailed knowledge about the contribution of d-electrons to the bonding character is available.During my PhD research, I aim to develop a deep understanding of electrical transport in solids, with special regard to systems which possess bonding contributions from d-electrons. In particular "strange metals" and other unconventional materials (chiral metals, topological semimetals) will be targeted to test and extend the theory of electrical transport in solids. By extending the concept of the bonding map with this research new technologically relevant materials can be designed to pave the way for demanding future applications.

Education and Application of Reverse-Monte-Carlo Methods for a 3-Dimensional Atomic Structure Resolution based on Electron Scattering Data and Pair Distribution Functions. (The results of this investigation have been published here: https://lnkd.in/emhvbTf7)Specifically, the tool RMCProfile is utilized in virtue of further investigations based on my Master Thesis' results. Besides learning objectives, the goal is a detailed insight into the amorphous structure of the prototype phase change material GeTe upon structural relaxation. Understanding structural relaxation and the concomittant resistance drift is of fundamental interest, e.g. for the realization of neuromorphic computing, which requires the minimization of resistance drift to incorporate multilevel resistance states.