We are a subgroup within the theoretical
and computational physics research group in the School of Physics,
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800 USM, Penang. Our main activities
concentrate on teaching and research. The major part of our research
concentrates on the application of theoretical and computational methods,
including the use of software packages, for the determination of materials
properties at the atomistic level. Molecular Dynamics (MD), Quantum Monte Carlo
(QMC), Density Functional Theory (DFT), Density Functional Tight-Binding
(DFTB), Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) methods form the theoretical
foundation for most of our work. The materials of our interest range from
atomic clusters to superconductivity in cuprates to 2D nanomaterials (e.g.
graphene) to crystalline solids and other nanoscale structures. We study
their structural, electronic, thermal, and optical properties. For some early
account on the establishment of this subgroup, read the article on the blog
posted around 2009, http://tlyoon.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-computational-physics-research.html.
A long term proposal to advance the aspiration of the subgroup has recently
been proposed to the school of physics. It is a much formal and complete plan
than the 2009 blog article, see http://tlyoon.blogspot.tw/2013/07/my-proposal-for-computational-materials.html.
For a brief intro to computational materials physics, the core business we are
doing, read the power point presentation here,
prepared by our main research collaborator Dr. Lim Thong Leng from MMU Melaka
campus.
Indeed, the scope of our research field is wider than most conventional
research groups of such kind.