College of Science & Engineering
Twin Cities
This group's field of study is experimental condensed matter physics, with a research focus on studying novel quantum physics in gate-defined nanostructures on 2D Van der Waals materials.
Electronic properties of solids can undergo dramatic change when the material thickness is reduced to the atomic limit. Notably, even the band structures of mono-layers and bi-layers can be distinctively different in both graphene and transition metal dichalcogenide. The exotic band structures of 2D materials are uniquely different from those in conventional 2DEGs, including relativistic dispersion relationship, displacement-field tunable bandgap, spin-valley locking near band edges, and anisotropic effective mass.
These researchers further tailor these interesting band structures to new platforms of studying novel quantum physics. They prepare ultra high quality atomically thin electronic systems by assembling Van der Waals heterostructures encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitrides, and fabricate gate-defined nanostructures using state-of-the-art lithography techniques. With experimental control over local Hamiltonians, the researchers manipulate spin, layer, valley and sublattice quantum numbers towards realizing novel functional quantum devices in optoelectronics, spintronics, valleytronics, and quantum computing, and study new phases of matter such as Dirac fluid, Luttinger liquid, Bell states, and non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall excitations.