A Report

The basic idea behind this ASI was to set a proper environment where the world leaders in different crystallographic specialisms could exchange ideas on the design of new materials having tailor-made properties. New materials are expected to play a key role in future technologies and the present innovative project of reviewing these technologies all together is a form of guaranteeing Nato leadership in defence and security technologies. In the introductory presentation, both co-Directors have stressed this last aspect, often referred to the other speakers.

New materials are already entering into areas up to now considered not accessible. The rational design of materials demonstrating properties of technological interest will improve the prospective of employing them in several areas of common daily interest. The relevance of these fields to the development and creation of new defence and security technologies is expected to beof prime importance. Just to name an important example, some new molecule-based magnets, known to possess magnetic properties well above room-temperature, could be used to substitute metal-based magnets in places where lower weight and/or processability is at a premium. They can be designed in conjunction with other properties, to give an extra advantage to the material (for instance, their magnetism being controlled by polarized light). Therefore, these new applications will find their way into new defence and security technologies, providing new solid materials. In many cases these solids are crystalline and therefore lend themselves to careful structure analysis. Hence, the design of these materials is part of what is nowadays known as Crystal Engineering. These prospective syntheses have gained the financial support and widely advertised sponsorship by the International Union of Crystallography to this NATO-ASI Institute.

Up to now, the rational behind the design of new materials has been, in most cases, based on empirical observations. Sometimes these empirical rules fail, and as a result, the progress in the production of these new materials is slowed down and relied on serendipity as well as science. This has prompted a growing consensus on the need of a better understanding of the structure-property relations. Such a need is even more evident in materials simultaneously exhibiting various properties of technological interest. This Nato-ASI aimed at filling the gap, by revising the current state-of-the-art in most materials of technological interest. In this form, the participating student/researcher would not only get a rather complete awareness in the design in his/her field of interest, but also a unique view on closely connected subjects. This fact will allow the potential creation of synergies and of employment opportunities.

Keeping the previous considerations in mind, a scientific program has been planned where one ormore 1 hour talks on one type of material was mixed with that on other types. Within each of these types, the lectures were ordered according to an increasing level of difficulty. These lectures were complemented by six ½ hour presentations (a total of 43 talks) and two posters sessions. Each poster session exhibited 32 posters, being preceeded by short flash presentation by the author, followed by the discussion in a large courtyard with poster stands for about three hours. A panel discussion was organized about open problems in materials design and future trends, including defence and security.

Each lecture allowed ten minutes for the young participants' questions, efficiently stimulated by the chair and given priority. The students participation in all sessions was very high; the qualòity and the amount of questions raised was also remarkable high, compared to previous ASI attended. This resulted in the award of several prizes to young researchers during the closing ceremony (two awards to students asking the best questions during the discussion time in the lecture hall, Reddy Perumalla from India and Vincent Smith from South Africa, and two awards to the best poster presentation, Christina Capacci from USA and Avital Levy Lior from Israel).

There were 118 participants from 35 countries

 

From a report by Juan Novoa, slightly modified by Lodovico Riva di Sanseverino