December 28, 2022

Anirudh Hari, who completed his BS in Physics in May 2022, has published his work titled “High pressure phase transition and strength estimate in polycrystalline alumina during laser-driven shock compression” in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. The paper, co-first-authored by Wicks Lab high school student Rohit Hari, was published as part of the Special Issue on Phase Transitions in Condensed Matter at Extreme Conditions. The study reports the first direct observation of a phase transition in shock-compressed Al2O3, and confirms that a transition to the Rh2O3(II) phase occurs under the extremely short timescales of shock-compression. In collaboration with Dr. Patrick Heighway from Oxford, Anirudh and Rohit also applied a novel method to determine alumina’s strength by measuring its thermal expansion. As he goes into his PhD, Anirudh continues to find new ways to analyze X-ray diffraction data to understand slip, twinning, defects, and strain in materials.