Adjunct Assistant Professor

Contact Information

Office:   Traphagen Hall #206A
Phone:   (406) 994-6906
Email:[email protected]

Office Hours: Fall 2012

MW 3:00-4:00

Education

Ph. D. - Earth and Planetary Science - University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, - 2009                   
B. A. – Geology and East Asian Studies (magna cum laude) - Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH - 2004

Research Interests

  • Development of crystallographic preferred orientation during deposition, crystal growth, deformation, phase transformations, and recrystallization.  The effects of preferred orientation on bulk physical properties.
  • High pressure and temperature mineralogy/rheology.  Much of my research has been experimental work to synthesize and deform ultra-high pressure and temperature mineral phases using a variety of deformation devices such as the multi-anvil press and the diamond anvil cell.  Some of these mineral phases are only stable at pressures greater than a million times atmospheric pressure!  As samples are deformed at high pressure and temperature, in-situ synchrotron x-ray diffraction is used to measure preferred orientation development and elastic distortion of the crystal lattice.
  • The link between microscopic deformation mechanisms and large scale phenomena like seismic anisotropy.  This approach combines experimental work with numerical modeling.  One goal is to be able to use observations of seismic anisotropy in the lowermost mantle to determine flow patterns associated with mantle convection.

Selected Publications

W. Kanitpanyacharoen, S. Merkel, L. Miyagi, P. Kaercher, C. N. Tomé, Y. Wang, H.-R. Wenk (2012). Significance of mechanical twinning in hexagonal metals at high pressure. Acta Materialia 60(1), 430-44

H. Marquardt, A. Gleason, K. Marquardt, S. Speziale, L. Miyagi, G.Neusser, H.-R. Wenk, R. Jeanloz (2011). Elastic properties of MgO nanocrystals and grain boundaries at high pressures by Brillouin scattering. Physical Review B 84, 064131.

L. Miyagi, W. Kanitpanyacharoen, S. Stackhouse, B. Militzer, H.-R. Wenk (2011). The Enigma of Post-Perovskite Anisotropy: Deformation versus Transformation Textures. Physics and Chemistry of Minerals 38(9), 665-678.

L. Miyagi, W. Kanitpanyacharoen, P. Kaercher, K. K. M. Lee, H.-R. Wenk (2010). Slip systems in MgSiO3 post-perovskite: Implications for D” anisotropy. Science 329, 1639-1641.

H-P. Liermann, S. Merkel, L. Miyagi, H.-R. Wenk, H. Cynn, W.J. Evans, G. Shen (2009). In Situ determination of material textures at simultaneous high-pressure and -temperature by means of radial diffraction in the diamond anvil cell.  Review of Scientific Instruments  80, 104501.

L. Miyagi, S. Merkel, T. Yagi, N. Sata, Y. Ohishi, and H.-R. Wenk (2009). Diamond anvil cell deformation of CaSiO3 perovskite up to 49 GPa, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 174(1-4), 159-164. 

L. Miyagi, M. Kunz, J. Nasiatka, M. Voltolini, J. Knight, H.-R. Wenk (2008). In-situ texture development in polycrystalline iron at simultaneous high pressure and temperature. Journal of Applied Physics 104, 103510.

L. Miyagi, N. Nishiyama, Y. Wang, A. Kubo, D. V. West, R. J. Cava, T. S. Duffy, H.-R. Wenk (2008). Deformation and texture development in CaIrO3 post-perovskite phase up to 6 GPa and 1300 K. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 268, 515-525.

M. Kunz, W.A. Caldwell, L. Miyagi, H.-R. Wenk (2007). In situ laser heating and radial synchrotron diffraction in a diamond anvil cell. Review of Scientific Instruments 78, 063907.

S. Merkel, A.K. McNamara, A. Kubo, S. Speziale, L. Miyagi, Y. Meng, T.S. Duffy, H.-R. Wenk (2007). Deformation of (Mg,Fe)SiO3 post-perovskite and D” anisotropy. Science 316, 1729-1732.

L. Miyagi, S. Merkel, T. Yagi, N. Sata, Y. Ohishi, H.-R. Wenk (2006). Quantitative Rietveld texture analysis of CaSiO3 perovskite deformed in a diamond anvil cell. Journal of Physics Condensed Matter 18, S995-1005.

S. Speziale, I. Lonardelli, L. Miyagi, J. Pehl, C.E. Tommaseo, H.-R. Wenk (2006). Deformation experiments in the diamond-anvil cell: Texture in copper to 30 GPa. Journal of Physics Condensed Matter 18, S1007-1020.

H.-R. Wenk, I. Lonardelli, S. Merkel, L. Miyagi, J. Pehl, S. Speziale, C.E. Tommaseo (2006). Diamond anvil deformation experiments in radial diffraction geometry. Journal of Physics Condensed Matter 18, S933-947.

S. Merkel, A. Kubo, L. Miyagi, S. Speziale, T.S. Duffy, H.-K. Mao, H.-R. Wenk (2006). Plastic deformation of MgGeO3 post-perovskite at lower mantle pressures. Science 311, 644-646.