Materials Science Research Lecture

Abstract:

High quality materials synthesis underpins modern condensed matter research. Here I will discuss ZnO as an unexpected example of a widely used industrial material emerging as a platform for studying correlated electronic ground states. State-of-the-art thin film epitaxy techniques now permit the fabrication of extremely low disorder two-dimensional electron systems that display high electron mobilities at very low temperatures. In this regime, a rich phase diagram of competing fractional quantum Hall and broken symmetry ground states is revealed. Given the tunability of correlation strength and simplicity of the heterostructure design, the material lends itself to studying the elusive and unpredictable nature of two-dimensional electrons when the Coulomb interaction dominates their kinetic energy.

More about the Speaker:

B.Sc University of New South Wales (Australia) 2009, M.Sc Tohoku University (2012), Ph.D University of Tokyo (2015). 2015~2019 postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart working with Klaus von Klitzing on low temperature measurements of two-dimensional electron systems. 2020~ Caltech.