Fons Group

Welcome to the Fons Research Group Homepage!

This is the home page of the Fons research group of Keio University Faculty of Science and Technology Yagami Campus. Welcome. On these pages, you will find an introduction ot the current and some past research. I am interested in a variety of different topics and always interesting in learning more about new things.

I would like to create an international environment for students working with me. Both English and Japanese languages are welcome. I will try my best to give students a different perspective filled with international collaborations. Please join me in learning more about the world.

Paul Fons

Professor of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, School of Integrated Design and Engineering

Keio University

Biography

Paul Fons

Interests

Computational Materials Science
The structure and function of amorphous solids
Monolayer materials for electronics applications (transition metal dichalcogenides)
Materials design for new functionality
2D Materials (transition metal dichalcogenides)
Phase-change Materials

Education

PhD in Materials Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
MS in Physics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
BSc in Physics
Bates College, Lewiston ME

Skills

server

Computational Materials Science

Python-based programming

Use of Python-based APIs for ab-initio calculations and analysis

Synchrotron-based Material Science

Understanding the structure of crystalline and amorphous materials

Experience

Professor

Keio University

Apr 2030 – Present Hiyoshi, Kanagawa

Teaching materials science in the context of electronic engineering and researched semiconductor physics.

Chief Researcher

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Apr 1993 – Mar 2020 Tsukuba, Japan

Responsibilities include:

Computational Materials Science
Synchrotron-based analysis
Systematic Materials Design

Projects

Current Research Themes

There are several ongoing themes present in the Fons research group some of which are listed below. The basic theme is to understand atomic level structure and use the resulting understanding to optimize functionality. This includes the use of synchrotron radiation to investigate the physical and electronic structure of solids using tools such as x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAFS) or high-energy photoemission spectroscopy. XAFS is a technique particular useful for understanding the structure of amorphous solids. Ultrafast dynamics has also been a topic of interest with collaborative efforts including using the free-electron laser SACLA at SPring-8, coherent phonon dynamics, or ab-initio molecular dynamics calculations.

Density-Functional Theory

ab-initio calculations of material properties, structure, and dynamics.

Ultrafast Dynamics

Using lasers and x-rays to probe ultrafast dynamics.

Phase-Change Materials

Materials whose structure is used for storage.

Structure of Amorphous Materials

Using synchrotron radiation to probe amorphous structure.

Recent & Upcoming Talks

Featured Publications

Paul Fons, A.V. Kolobov (Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia), Yuta Saito (AIST)

October 2020 *Physica Status Solidi, Rapid Research Letters (invited) , (in press)

Role of Electric fields in interfacial phase-change memory

The effect of an applied electric field on reconstruction in prototype structures of Interfacial Phase-Change is explored using ab-initio molecular dynamics and density-functional theory

PDF Project

Paul Fons, H. Osawa, A.V. Kolobov, T. Fukaya, M. Suzuki, T. Uruga, N. Kawamura, H. Tanida, J. Tominaga

October 2010 Physical Review B (rapid communication), 82(4):041203, 2010.