Samantha O’Sullivan was awarded the Jackie Robinson Scholarship based on research completed this summer at QMC with Professor Johnpierre Paglione and Dr. Yun Suk Eo. Check out more on her experiance at QMC here.
A collaboration between QMC and the NIST Center for Neutron Research, lead by QMC graduate student I-Lin Liu, has just published results reporting the discovery of a new topological phase in the layered transition metal chalcogenide MoTe2, a promising host of electronic Weyl nodes and topological superconductivity. MoTe2 harbors both noncentrosymmetric Td and centrosymmetric T’ structural phases, both of which have been identified as topologically nontrivial. However, Liu and colleagues demonstrated via quantum oscillations and neutron scattering measurements, and first-principles calculations, how applied pressure drives MoTe2 between the Td and T’ phases, through an intermediate mixed-phase region. The mixed-phase region gives rise to a network of topological interface states that yield quantum oscillations that survive despite the strong structural disorder, opening the possibility of stabilizing multiple topological phases coexisting with superconductivity. This work is published in npj Quantum Materials.
Congratulations to QMC undergraduates Nick Poniatowski and Mark Zic they have been named UMD Undergraduate Researchers of the Year" for 2020 by the Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research. Poniatoswki and Zic were selected from a highly competitive group of nominees working in diverse fields throughout the university, was recognized for thier accomplishments in Physics.
We are pleased to announce that QMC PhD graduate Chris Eckberg is this year's CMNS winner of the Caramello Distinguished Dissertation Award. His dissertation, “SUPERCONDUCTING ENHANCEMENT AND ELECTRONIC NEMATICITY IN SUBSTITUTED BaNi2As2,” was chosen as the winner in the disciplinary area of Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering. The Caramello Distinguished Dissertation Award recognizes original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline.