Linda Ye Named Moore Fellow in Materials Synthesis

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has named Linda Ye, assistant professor of physics, a 2024 Moore Fellow in Materials Synthesis. The fellowship, which comes with a grant of $1.2 million, aims to "strengthen materials synthesis efforts at leading U.S. universities and enable talented junior researchers to establish robust research programs in their new academic labs," according to the foundation's website.

One of the goals of the fellowship, part of the foundation's Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems (EPiQS) Initiative, is to accelerate progress in the field of quantum materials, which hold "boundless opportunities for discovery and create the basis of modern technology," according to the foundation. These quantum materials include solids and engineered structures in which interactions among electrons and strong quantum-mechanical effects lead to a variety of interesting emergent phenomena.

Ye, who performed pioneering work on a novel class of quantum materials termed "kagome metals" as a graduate student, plans to use the grant to expand her research into new areas of study. Her goal is to combine two of the most intensively studied areas in quantum materials: Topological materials, which have unusually stable electronic properties that arise from how atoms are arranged and connected inside the material, and strongly correlated materials, which feature strong electron-electron interactions that produce different kinds of electron ordering patterns. Ye plans to create materials that are both topological and strongly correlated.

"By bringing together material design principles empirically explored in these two traditionally separate subfields, we may be able to create new materials that carry the benefits of both," Ye says. "I'm particularly excited to search for materials that support new types of quantum orders with robust topological features—this can reveal unknown physical properties which deeply harness the quantum nature of the electrons."

To that end, Ye will design and create new quantum crystals by exploring different chemical compositions and structures, with the goal of "creating a little world where the electrons behave and interact differently," she says.

Past Caltech Moore Fellows in Materials Synthesis include Joseph Falson, assistant professor of materials science. Additionally, Caltech is one of eight EPiQS theory centers, which primary support postdoctoral scholars and visiting scientists. More about the initiative is at their website.