Materials Science Research Lecture
Abstract:
The ability to create and investigate composite fermionic phases opens new avenues for the investigation of strongly correlated quantum matter. I will describe the experimental observation of a series of quantized conductance steps within strongly interacting electron waveguides formed at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. The waveguide conductance follows a characteristic sequence within Pascal's triangle: (1, 3, 6, 10, 15,…)*e2/h, where e is the electron charge and h is the Planck constant. The robustness of these steps with respect to magnetic field and gate voltage indicate the formation of a new family of degenerate quantum liquids formed from bound states of n = 2, 3, 4, … electrons. These experiments could provide solid-state analogues for a wide range of composite fermionic phases ranging from neutron stars to solid-state materials to quark-gluon plasmas.
More about the Speaker:
Dr. Jeremy Levy is a Distinguished Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Director of the Pittsburgh Quantum Institute. He received an A.B. degree in physics from Harvard University in 1988, and a Ph.D. degree in physics from UC Santa Barbara in 1993. After a postdoctoral position at UC Santa Barbara, he joined the University of Pittsburgh in 1996. His research interests center around the emerging field of oxide nanoelectronics, experimental and theoretical realizations for quantum computation, semiconductor and oxide spintronics, quantum transport and nanoscale optics, and dynamical phenomena in oxide materials and films.
Dr. Levy is Director of the Pittsburgh Quantum Institute, the Center for Oxide-Semiconductor Materials for Quantum Computation, a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) on Quantum Preservation, Simulation and Transfer in Oxide Nanostructures, and a NSF Nanoelectronics for 2020 and Beyond program, and a Class of 2015 National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow (NSSEFF). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and is the recipient of the 2008 Nano50 Innovator Award, and the NSF Career Award. He has received the University of Pittsburgh's Chancellor's Distinguished awards for research (2004, 2011) and teaching (2007).