Bio
Antonio dos Santos is the lead instrument scientist for SNAP, the high pressure beamline at the SNS.
He joined ORNL in 2007 as a post-doctoral fellow, working at the Spallation Neutron Source, and is a staff member at that facility since 2012. He supports experiments at the SNAP beamline as well as, occasionally, at most other diffractometers in the suite.
He graduated in Materials Engineering from the New University of Lisbon, Portugal, followed by a PhD in Materials Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a focus on multiferroics and the magneto-electric relationships in functional oxides. Before joining ORNL, he was a post doc in the University of Aveiro, Portugal, working on photo-luminescent lanthanide compounds and molecular magnets.
He has co-authored over 80 scientific papers, books and chapters. He is a frequent reviewer for scientific journals and beamtime proposals. He is also an active member of the American Crystallography Association, COMPRES and the International Center for Diffraction Data.
Research interests
My main research interests explore the interplay of the structure and magnetism, in particular the use of pressure to access new exotic states in condensed matter, e.g. superconductivity, frustrated magnetism, caloric effects etc. Another focus is using high pressure as a synthesis route for the study and recovery of new phases. To that effect, I use ambient and high pressure neutron and x-ray diffraction techniques in combination with magnetization measurements and Raman scattering.
I was responsible for the conceptual design and subsequent scientific lead of the of the SNAP beamline upgrade (completed in 2020) and I remain engaged with ways to apply modern neutronics technologies, in particular guide designs, to further improve the performance of the SNAP beamline.