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Herman Alberts

Professor
Name: Herman Alberts
Location: C1 Lab 126 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
  Staff Members

Contact Details:
Tel: 011 559 2330

Email: hermana@uj.ac.za

About Herman Alberts

​​Qualifications

  • BSc, 1961, University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
  • BSc (Hons), 1962, University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
  • MSc (Physics), 1963, University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
  • PhD (Physics), 1970, Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Employment History

Previous Experience

  • University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa: Lecturer, January 1964 to December 1967.
  • Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, South Africa: Lecturer / Senior Lecturer, January 1968 to December 1977 Professor of Physics: January 1978 to December 2004
  • University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa:
  • Professor of Physics: January 2005 to Aug. 2006
  • Part-time Professor of Physics: Sept. 2006 to Aug. 2007
  • Emeritus Professor of Physics: Sept 2007 to present

Experience Abroad

  • Visiting scientist: Laboratoire de Magnetisme, CNRS, Grenoble, France, 1972 for one year.
  • Visiting scientist: Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, USA, 1979 for 6 months.
  • Visiting scientist: University of Hull, Hull, England, 1985 for two months.
  • Visiting scientist: University of Bath, Bath, England, 1991 for two months.
  • Visiting scientist: University of Bath, Bath, England, 1992 for two weeks.

Interests

  • Teaching

I am particularly interested in teaching Physics and have taught all courses up to honours level that are normally associated with physics. The training of masters and doctoral candidates is close to my heart as they are the future physicists that are expected to develop physics and apply it to our modern technological society.

  • Research

Condensed matter physics with emphasis on magnetic, magneto-elastic, electrical and thermal transport properties, specific heat, Hall effect, spin glass and superconducting properties, quantum critical point effects and high pressure studies on materials. Presently I am studying these properties of Cr and Cr alloys in cooperation with co-workers and post-graduate students.

Equipment available in our laboratory or on campus

  • Arc and resistive furnaces for alloy preparation, crystal growing equipment (Bridgman, Czochralski, floating zone) and spark cutting equipment for sample preparation.
  • Ultrasonic measuring equipment (phase comparison and pulse-echo-overlap methods) for ultrasonic wave velocity and attenuation measurements. Equipment for accurate electrical resistivity and thermal expansion measurements (4 K – 1000 K, 0 – 3 kbar).
  • PPMS (Quantum Design) for thermal conductivity, Hall effect, specific heat, magnetization and magnetic susceptibility measurements (magnetic fields0 – 9 T, temperature 2 K – 400 K) available through the laboratory of Prof. A.M. Strydom of our Department.
  • High pressure equipment 0 – 14 kbar.
  • Electron microprobe, SEM, AFM, XRD, XRF equipment.
  • Neutron diffraction equipment at Necsa Limited, Pretoria, South Africa.

International and national collaboration and publication with:

  • Prof. A.M Strydom, AEC, Pelindaba and presently University of Johannesburg.
  • Prof. E. Fawcett, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
  • Prof. P. Smit, Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg.
  • Dr. J.A. Fernandez-Baca, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, USA.
  • Prof. G. Saunders, University of Bath, Bath, England.
  • Dr. A.R.E. Prinsloo, University of Johannesburg.
  • Dr A.M. Venter, Nuclear Science and Technology Dept., Necsa Limited, Pretoria.
  • Dr. E.E. Fullerton, Hitachi Global Storage Systems, San Jose, California, USA.

Publications

  • A total of 139 scientific papers published in peer reviewed scientific journals.
  • Amongst these journals are: Reviews of Modern Physics, Physical Review, Physical Review Letters, Journal of Applied Physics, Journal of Physics F: Metal Physics, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Solid State Communications, Philosophical Magazine, etc.

List of Representative Publications

  • C Vettier, H L Alberts & D Bloch: Tricritical lines in Metamagnets, Phys. Rev. Letters, 31, pp1414-17 (1973).
  • H L Alberts, J Beille, D Bloch, E P Wohlfarth: Ferromagnetic properties at high fields and high pressures of nickel-platinum alloys near the critical concentration for ferromagnetism, Phys. Rev. 9B, pp2233-43 (1974).
  • E S Fisher, J F Miller, H L Alberts & D G Westlake: Effects of hydrogen on the single-crystal elastic moduli of Nb-V and Nb-Ta solid solutions, J. Phys. F: Metal Physics 11, pp1557-1576 (1981).
  • H L Alberts & J A J Lourens: Thermal expansion and elastic constants of dilute Cr-Al alloys, Phys. Rev. B29, pp5279-5285 (1984).
  • H L Alberts & J A J Lourens: Magnetic effects in dilute Cr-Si alloys, J. Phys. F: Metal Phys. 18, pp123-135 (1988).
  • A Baran, H L Alberts, A M Strydom & P de V du Plessis: Magnetoelastic and neutron diffraction studies of Cr-Al alloy single crystals, Phys. Rev. B45, pp10473-10484 (1992).
  • M Cankurtaran, G A Saunders, Q Wang, P J Ford & H L Alberts: High pressure ultrasonic study of the commensurate-incommensurate spin-density wave transition in an antiferromagnetic Cr -0.3 at.% Ru alloy single-crystal, Phys. Rev. B46, pp14370-14381 (1992).
  • E Fawcett, H L Alberts, V Galkin, D R Noakes & J V Yahkmi: Spin-density-wave antiferromagnetism in chromium alloys, Rev. Mod. Phys. 66, pp 25-127 (1994).
  • H L Alberts & P Smit: Effects of temperature and hydrostatic pressure on the magnetoelasticity of a commensurate spin-density-wave antiferromagnetic Cr + 3.5 at. % Al alloy single crystal, Phys. Rev. B51, pp15146-15155 (1995).
  • A.R.E. Prinsloo, H.L. Alberts & P. Smit: Acoustic mode vibrational anharmonicity in Cr-Si alloy single crystals, Phys. Rev. B. B56, pp11777-11785 (1997).
  • A.R.E. Prinsloo, H.L. Alberts & P. Smit: Magnetoelasticity of Cr-Ga alloy single crystals at high pressures, J. Appl. Phys. 85, pp 4747-4749 (1999).
  • R.D. Metcalfe, G.A. Saunders, M. Cankurtaran & H.L. Alberts: High-pressure ultrasonic study of monocrystalline Cr in the antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases, Phil. Mag. B79, pp 663-682 (1999).
  • P. Smit, H.L. Alberts & A.M. Venter: Anomalous itinerant magnetic properties of a Cr + 2.2 at.% Al single crystal, J. Appl. Phys. 87, 314. pp 4885-4887 (2000).
  • J.A. Lodya, P. Smit & H.L. Alberts: Effects of Mn and V doping on the magnetic phase diagram of the Cr-Al alloy system, J. Appl. Phys. 87, pp 4888-4890 (2000).
  • A.M. Dawe, H.L. Alberts & P. Smit: Magnetoelastic effects in the antiferromagnetic spin-density-wave alloy Cr + 0.16 at.% Pt, J. Magn. Magn. Mat. 226-239, pp 985-986 (2001).
  • J.A.L. Lodya, H.L. Alberts & P. Smit: High pressure magnetic phase diagram of an antiferromagnetic Cr + 0.50 at.% Re alloy single crystal, J. Alloys and Compounds 320, pp 40-45 (2001).
  • J.A.L. Lodya, H.L. Alberts & A.R.E. Prinsloo: High-pressure ultrasonic properties of spin-density-wave Cr-Re alloy single crystals, J. Alloys and Compounds 340, pp 27-38 (2002).
  • A.M. Venter, A.R.E. Prinsloo & H.L. Alberts: Neutron diffraction studies of a Cr + 0.88 at.% Ga alloy single crystal, Applied Physics A74, pp s850-s852 (2002).
  • A.M. Venter, H.L. Alberts, A.R.E. Prinsloo & A.M. Dawe: Unusual magnetic effects in an itinerant electron antiferromagnetic Cr-Pt alloys single crystal, J. Appl. Phys. 93, pp 7269-7271 (2003).
  • E.E. Fullerton, J.L. Robertson, A.R.E. Prinsloo, H.L. Alberts & S.D. Bader: Hysteretic spin-density-wave ordering in confined geometries, Physical Review Letters 91, pp 237201-1 to 237201-4 (2003).
  • H.A. Derrett, A.R.E. Prinsloo, H.L. Alberts & A.M. Venter: Magnetic interactions in a Cr + 1.9 at.% Fe alloy single crystal, J. Magn. Magn. Mat. 272-276, pp 2084-2085 (2004).
  • L.Reddy, H.L. Alberts, A.R.E. Prinsloo & A.M. Venter: Antiferromagnetism in a Cr86Ru14 alloy, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 426, pp83-92 (2006).
  • L. Reddy, H.L. Alberts, A.M. Strydom, A.R.E. Prinsloo and A. M. Venter: Quantum critical behaviour in the (Cr86Ru14)1-xVx alloy system, Journal of Applied Physics, 103, pp 07C903-1 to 07C903-3 (2008).
  • B.Li, H. L. Alberts, A.M. Strydom, B. M. Wu, A. R. E. Prinsloo and Zh. J. Chen: Magnetic properties of Cr-Fe-Mn alloys, Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 321, pp61-73 (2009).
  • A.R.E. Prinsloo, H.A. Derrett, O. Hellwig, E.E. Fullerton and H.L. Alberts: Influence of growth morphology on the Néel temperature of Cr-Ru thin films and heterostructures, Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 322, pp1126-1129 (2010).
  • L.Reddy, H.L. Alberts, A.R.E. Prinsloo and A.M. Strydom: Scaling of spin-density-wave effects in the quantum critical (Cr86Ru14)1-xVx alloy system, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 200, 022050 (4pp), (2010).
  • A.R.E. Prinsloo, H.L. Alberts and A.M. Strydom: Electrical and thermal transport properties of a Cr-Si alloy single crystal, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 200, 022048 (4pp), (2010).
  • H.L. Alberts, A.R.E. Prinsloo and A.M. Strydom: Electrical transport and specific heat of a Cr+2.2 at.% Al single crystal, Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 322, pp1092-1094 (2010).
  • C.J. Sheppard, A.R.E. Prinsloo, H.L. Alberts and A.M. Strydom: Evidence of a possible quantum critical point in a Cr-Si alloy doped with Mo, Journal of Applied Physics, (2011), in press.