This CAREER award supports theoretical research with an aim to increase our fundamental understanding of electron transport in nanostructures and so, electronic circuits on the nanoscale. The research has four thrusts:
1.) Motivated by simulations that indicate charge fractionalization in electronic detectors that read out qubits, the PI aims to develop a qualitative understanding of the effect based on charge fractionalization through external fields with solitons. The consequences of this mechanism in various nanostructures will be explored. 2.) Motivated by experiments on multilayer graphene grown on silicon carbide, the PI aims to investigate puzzling transport measurements. This research will build on a theory of the interlayer interaction in such materials developed by the PI that explains recent spectroscopic measurements well. 3.) The PI will build on his recent work that predicts low-temperature divergences in scattering from certain one-dimensional defects in intrinsic graphene. Strong nonequilibrium effects on such scattering and similar effects in graphene bilayers will also be analyzed. 4.) The PI aims to develop a systematic approach to understanding phenomena caused by many-body interactions using the quantum information theory concept of entanglement to characterize the complexity introduced into a wavefunction by many-body interactions. This approach will be developed in close connection to experiments that measure wavefunction entanglement. The PI aims to apply the concept to systems that exhibit phenomena such as quantum phase transitions or topological order. A theory of interacting nanostructures based on this research will be developed.
Educational and outreach activities are proposed that seek to interest and educate physics students at various levels and the general public in areas of nanoscience. A new graduate course will be developed that exploits the general appeal of nanoscience in an effort to attract students to theoretical condensed matter physics. Undergraduate students will be addressed by integration of aspects of modern condensed matter research into undergraduate teaching. The PI will reach out to the general public through a summer program at Georgia Tech that allows him to involve a K-12 teacher in the research supported by this award. The participating teacher will take new knowledge and fascination for nanoscience back to the classroom with metro-Atlanta K-12 students. The PI will cultivate this interaction through tours of the local research facilities for the students of the participating teacher. Educational diversity is another goal pursued with this career plan, drawing on existing infrastructure at Georgia Tech.
NON TECHNICAL SUMMARY
This CAREER award supports theoretical research with the aim to increase our fundamental understanding of electron transport in materials on the scale of one ten-millionth of an inch-the nanoscale. On the nanoscale the distinction between material and electronic circuits is blurred. As rapid technological progress in fabrication allows us to approach this scale with engineerable electronic structures, novel physical effects continue to be discovered. In part this is so because the wave nature of the electrons that conduct the electrical current becomes more and more relevant as the structure size decreases. As the device dimensions become comparable with the wavelength of the current-carrying electrons, the trajectories described by the matter waves of those electrons start to deviate significantly from classical intuition. The interaction between electrons increases in importance with decreasing system size. The standard theory, the Fermi liquid theory, which is highly successful in capturing the effects of interactions among electrons in conventional materials, ceases to apply at the nanoscale.
The research under this award responds to the resulting, need for a deeper understanding of nanoscale materials or nanoscale electronic circuits. The PI will study the physics of graphene, a material made of carbon atoms that is one atom thick. Graphene holds promise for future nanoelectronics technologies. Furthermore, a general strategy to gain an understanding of the physics of electric nanocircuits through systematic experiments will be developed. That approach builds on the concept of entanglement borrowed from quantum information theory, which characterizes the complexity of a many-particle quantum mechanical system.
Educational and outreach activities are proposed that seek to interest and educate physics students at various levels and the general public in areas of nanoscience. A new graduate course will be developed that exploits the general appeal of nanoscience in an effort to attract students to theoretical condensed matter physics. Undergraduate students will be addressed by integration of aspects of modern condensed matter research into undergraduate teaching. The PI will reach out to the general public through a summer program at Georgia Tech that allows him to involve a K-12 teacher in the research supported by this award. The participating teacher will take new knowledge and fascination for nanoscience back to the classroom with metro-Atlanta K-12 students. The PI will cultivate this interaction through tours of the local research facilities for the students of the participating teacher. Educational diversity is another goal pursued with this career plan, drawing on existing infrastructure at Georgia Tech.
