Prof. Haruhiko Dekura from the Geodynamic Research Center of Ehime University of Japan, visited ISSP from Nov. 7 to Nov. 26, 2016. Dekura’s research focuses on the simulations of material and mineral properties under the high pressure and high temperature conditions including thermal conductivity, phase transition, and superconductivity.

During his visit at ISSP, Prof. Dekura delivered a talk titled with “Lattice thermal conductivity of materials under high pressure and temperature from first principles” on Nov. 15. It is still a challenging subject to experimentally measure the thermal conductivity of the lower mantle minerals under high-pressure and high-temperature.

Moreover, simulation based on the first-principles method is another way to explore the mineral’s thermal conductivity under the low mantel P-T conditions. Prof. Dekura developed a method to calculate the thermal conductivity of materials under high P-T conditions relying on the lattice dynamics method. He described the treatment of anharmonicity and calculations of phonon lifetime in detail. He presented the latest results about the thermal conductivity of MgO, MgSiO₃ perovskite and post-perovskite.

Prof. Haruhiko Dekura received his PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics from Osaka University in 2010 and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Ecole Polytechnique of France and the Senior Research Fellow Center of Ehime University of Japan. From 2013, he started as an assistant professor in the Geodynamics Research Center of Ehime University.

Prof. Dekura in the presentation (imaged by WANG Xianlong)