Integrated Quantum Materials

From exotic superconductors to topological polarization vortices, quantum materials exhibit stunning and extremely useful physical properties.  Understanding the physics of quantum materials is a frontier research challenge of modern science.  The control of many-body states in engineered devices could ultimately revolutionise modern technologies.  Our group combines molecular-scale materials fabrication, single-crystal synthesis and device engineering with state-of-the-art transport, thermodynamic and spectroscopic measurements.   We understand and predict the properties of materials using quantum-field models and first-principles calculations.  We explore forms of ‘ultra-quantum-matter’ in which the fascinating principles of superposition, entanglement and measurement-induced collapse, extend beyond the atom scale to macroscopic scales.

Research

Our projects are catagorized into three main research themes of the Cavendish Laboratory with sub-topics of interest listed below.

Emergent Quantum Phenomena

  • Quantum Phase Transitions
  • Topological materials
  • Strongly correlated electrons
  • Quantum field theory
  • Heavy fermions
  • Superconductivity
  • Metallic magnetism
  • Ferroelectrics
  • Antiferroelectrics
  • Ferroelastics
  • Multiferroics
  • Weyl and Dirac semimetals
  • Ferro- and anti-ferroelectric topological insulators

Quantum Devices and Technology

  • Solid-state refrigerants for quantum technologies
  • Sensing devices e.g. cryogenic capacitive-based thermometry and quantum stress sensors
  • Voltage-gated strongly correlated electron transistors and electric-field control of microelectronic superconducting and topological-insulator devices
  • Quantum computing platforms
  • Dielectric-based non-volatile random access memories

Energy Materials

  • Superdielectrics
  • Thermoelectrics
  • Electrocalorics
  • Magnetocalorics
  • Elastocalorics

Find out more about Integrated Quantum Materials