​BaBiO₃ is a perovskite and is not as conventional as the perovskites already known, as it is not a perfect cube structure but distorted. It was first discovered and reported due to its superconducting capabilities at low temperature, which gained massive interest in testing various compounds. However, to date, not much research has been carried out on thermal transport.

The main objective of Alex's PhD project is to measure the thermal conductivity of BaBiO₃ thin films as a function of temperature and thickness. To do so, Alex's group do not use standard methods for thermal conductivity but instead one method called 3-omega, which is an AC-based method where one can measure both thermal conductivity and diffusivity of thin films. Now the group wish to apply this methodology to BaBiO₃ thin films.

“In theory, when you go from books, you can have some strength that comes from the latest research," explained Alex, "but in BaBiO₃, it was proven that if you strengthen the thickness, you can recover the cubic structure. Therefore, we are looking at this interface between thermal transport and lattice distortions, which is why we have such an interest in BaBiO₃."

SXD instrument scientist Matthias Gutmann added, “Alex's research illustrates the current trend that if you do research prior to coming to ISIS, we can enable the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to come together. t's not just about obtaining a crystal structure or an excitation spectrum. These pieces have so many properties and the multi-technique approaches available at ISIS help in such multi-disciplinary areas."

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