Dr. Monika Gamża

Lecturer in Physics

School of Physical Sciences and Computing

Leighton Building, LE307

+44 (0) 1772 89 3262

MGamza@uclan.ac.uk

Subject Areas: Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science

Monika Gamża is a Lecturer in Physics in the Jeremiah Horrocks Institute for Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy. She is research active within the area of physics and chemistry of strongly correlated electron systems, specialising in the design, synthesis and characterisation of novel materials for both fundamental research and energy applications.

Full Profile

Following degrees in Physics obtained from the University of Silesia in Poland, Monika moved to the Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Germany where she worked on various projects related to physics and chemistry of intermetallic compounds, with special emphasis on magnetism and superconductivity in strongly correlated electron systems.

In August 2011, Monika moved to Brookhaven National Laboratory in the USA to pursue different strands of research into strongly correlated materials, including the study on quantum criticality in d-electron systems and investigations of electronic correlation effects in narrow gap insulators.

Before joining UCLan, Monika worked for 1.5 years as a postdoctoral researcher at Royal Holloway, University of London, on a project entitled “Fermi surface instabilities and quantum order under pressure”, headed by dr F. Malte Grosche from Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge.

In January 2015 Monika joined the University of Central Lancashire as a Lecturer in Physics. She is currently contributing to the teaching of undergraduate physics courses and starting a new research group in the field of design, synthesis and characterisation of strongly correlated electron systems.

FUNDING

  • Max-Planck Society fellowship, January 2011- August 2011 and January 2009 - June 2010,
  • Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, Germany
  • DAAD scholarship for young researchers, July 2010 - December 2010, Max-Planck Institute for
  • Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, Germany
  • Grant No. N202 010 32/0487 of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland, 2007 – 2008, principal investigator
  • Grant No. 1 PO3B 052 28 of the State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN), Poland, 2005 – 2007, co-investigator

QUALIFICATIONS

  • PhD in Physics, specialization: Condensed Matter Physics, University of Silesia, Poland, 2009, dissertation defended with honours
  • Master of Arts in Physics, University of Silesia, Poland, 2004 First Class Honours, within 5% of the best graduates

Publications

E. Svanidze, J. K. Wang, T. Besara, L. Liu, Q. Huang, T. Siegrist, B. Frandsen, J. W. Lynn, A. H. Nevidomskyy, M. Gamża, M. C. Aronson, Y. Uemura and E. Morosan, “An Itinerant Antiferromagnetic metal without magnetic constituents”, Nature Communications 6, 7701 (2015)

W. Miiller, L.S. Wu, M. S. Kim, T. Orvis, J. W. Simonson, M. Gamża, D. M. McNally, G. Ehlers, A. Podlesnyak, J.S. Helton, Y. Zhao, Y. Qiu, J. R. D. Copley, J. W. Lynn, C. S. Nelson, and M. C. Aronson, “Magnetic structure of Yb2Pt2Pb: Ising moments on the Shastry-Sutherland Lattice”, submitted to Physical Review Letters (arXiv:1408.0209)

M. Gamża, J. Tomczak, C. Brown, A. Puri, G. Kotliar, M. Aronson, “Electronic correlations in FeGa3 and the effect of hole doping on its magnetic properties”, Physical Review B 89, 195102 (2014)

S.-V. Ackerbauer, E. Bischoff, H. Bormann, U. Burchardt, A. Senyszyn, M. Gamża, A. Leithe-Jasper, A. Ormeci, R. Gumeniuk, R. Ramlau, H. Rosner, W. Schnelle, J.C. Schuster, F. Weitzer, L. H. Tjeng, and Yu. Grin, „Structural transformation with negative volume expansion: Chemical bonding and physical behaviour of TiGePt”, Chemistry-A European Journal, 18(20): 6272 (2012)

J. Gegner, M. Gamża, S.-V. Ackerbauer, N. Hellmann, Z. Hu, H.-H. Hsieh, H.-J. Lin, C.T. Chen, A. Leithe-Jasper, H. Rosner, Yu. Grin, and L. H. Tjeng, „Insulator-Metal Transition In TiPtGe: a combined photoelectron spectroscopy and band structure study”, Physical Review B 85, 235106 (2012)

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Research Activities

  • Design and synthesis of new intermetallics
  • Crystal growth via flux method
  • Electronic band structure of solids: computational and experimental study
  • Crystal structures (X-ray, electron and neutron diffraction methods)
  • Study on magnetic, thermal and transport properties

Projects

PhD projects:

  • Theory-assisted search for novel itinerant magnets

BSc (Hons) and MPhys projects:

  • Electronic structure of new Yb-based intermetallics
  • Structural and electronic properties of new skutterudites studied via ab-initio methods

Teaching Activities and Responsibilities

  • AP3841 - Condensed Matter Physics
  • APC802 - Motion, Forces and Force Fields
  • APC801 - Introduction to University Physics

Memberships

  • Member of the Institute of Physics (MInstP)
  • Member of the American Physical Society
  • Member of the Polish Physical Society