Title: Insight into the Quantum Materials

Abstract: Due to the interplay between spin, charge, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom, many interesting phenomena emerged in quantum materials, such as superconductivity, magnetism, orbital ordering, etc. Recently, the newly discovered Ruddlesden–Popper nickelate bilayer La3Ni2O7 and trilayer La4Ni3O10 superconductors, have unveiled a new and exciting platform for exploring high-Tc superconductivity, where the Ni orbital degree of freedom plays a key role, different from the previously studied infinite layer nickelates and cuprates.  In this talk, I will provide our insightful microscopic view of these novel phenomena. In addition, ferromagnetic insulators are valuable for their potential in spintronics applications due to their unique property of exhibiting magnetic behavior while remaining electrically insulating. In this talk, I will introduce a new mechanism for obtaining ferromagnetic insulating phase.

Bio: Ling-Fang Lin is a postdoctoral researcher in Physics & Astronomy at the University of Tennessee, in Prof. Elbio Dagotto’s group, working on theoretical condensed matter physics. She earned her PhD in physics in 2020 from Southeast University in China under the supervision of Prof. Shuai Dong. She is mainly focusing on first-principles theoretical studies and model simulations of electronic properties, superconductivity, magnetism and ferroelectricity of strongly correlated systems. She has introduced a novel concept, the ferromagnetic “half-full mechanism”, to explain the origin of the ferromagnetic insulating state in the quasi-one-dimensional strongly correlated electronic system. Now, she is also working on the magnetism and superconductivity of the newly discovered superconducting nickelate systems. She is also interested in other interesting properties, such as block magnetic Mott insulating state, orbital ordering, etc.