UNC-Duke Joint Physics Colloquium

Sara Haravifard, Duke University

“Experiments with Quantum Materials”

Just as the discovery of semiconductors revolutionized the electronics industry in the twentieth century, the development of Quantum Materials holds the key to new advances in technology. There is much basic scientific research still necessary to unveil the tantalizing potential of Quantum Materials. To that end, my research program is focused on advancing our ability to design, synthesize and characterize Quantum Materials. This talk will focus on two main topics: (1) our efforts to study the properties of a specific class of Quantum Materials, the so-called “Quantum Spin Liquids” (QSL), in which spins of the constituent electrons are predicted to become strongly entangled and fail to form a static ordered state as in a conventional magnet; and (2) our work to investigate the underlying properties of a recently discovered class of Quantum Materials, the so-called “Topological Magnon Insulators (TMI).” We are designing a recipe for synthesizing perfect TMI candidates and developing probes to reveal their topological nature directly and unambiguously.

This colloquium will be delivered via Zoom: https://duke.zoom.us/j/93165253553. For any questions, please email Cristin Ryman.

Recording here.