Topological Insulators: Fundamentals and Perspectives

CNAM members Johnpierre Paglione and Nicholas Butch contributed to a new text recently published by Wiley VCH (link). This text provides the first full overview and in-depth knowledge about the hot topic of topological insulators, covering techniques such as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, scanning-tunneling microscopy and current theoretical understanding of spin-locked electronic states, Dirac quasiparticles, quantum Hall effects and Majorana fermions. Together with a team of experts, Paglione and Butch provide a materials synthesis perspective chapter entitled "Growth and Characterization of Topological Insulators".

Prof. Martha Greenblatt visiting CNAM

Dr. Martha Greenblatt will give this week's CNAM Condensed Matter Colloquium. She is a distinguished researcher and professor at Rutgers University who has led the field of solid state chemistry especially in the areas of crystal growth, magnetoresistive oxides, superconductors, and other materials with highly correlated electronic behavior.  Prof. Greenblatt has been a prolific researcher with more than 400 publications in materials chemistry.  In 2003, she received the prestigious American Chemical Society’s Garvan-Olin Medal, which recognizes distinguished service to chemistry by women scientists.  Prof. Greenblatt served as editor-in-chief for the Materials Research Bulletin, has served on various distinguished panels, and has been visiting scientist at a multitude of institutions such as Bell Laboratories, Oxford University, and the Weismann Institute of Science. 

Hosted by Efrain Rodriguez and Johnpierre Paglione

W. J. Carr Lecture Series: Carlo Beenaker

This year's Carr Lecturer is Prof. Carlo Beenaker, professor of theoretical physics at Leiden University and leader of the university's mesoscopic physics group, established in 1992. Professor Beenakker is one of the absolute top international experts on mesoscopic physics. He has an exceptionally long list of scientific analyses, inventions and discoveries to his name, including mesoscopy in superconducting metal structures, quantization of conductivity, edge channels and contributions to random matrix theory. He also made a substantial contribution to establishing the basic concepts of single-electron tunnelling, Coulomb Blockade and noise in mesoscopic systems, and to transport theory of the Quantum Hall effect.

The schedule for Prof. Beenaker's seminars includes the Tuesday Physics Department Colloquium (4pm), a Wednesday CMTC seminar (11am) and the Thursday CNAM Condensed Matter Colloquium (2pm) -- information can be found here.

Manucharyan Receives NSF-Career Award

Assistant Professor Vladimir Manucharyan has received a prestigious five-year National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his proposal entitled “Realizing the ultrastrong coupling regime of quantum electrodynamics using high-impedance Josephson superconducting circuits”.  Prof. Manucharyan is also among the four University of Maryland faculty members that have been awarded 2015 Sloan Research Fellowships. This award, granted by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, identifies 126 early-career scientists based on their potential to contribute fundamentally significant research to a wider academic community.