Physics students Erich Robinson, Zach Gude, Tom Fowler, Tamar Lambert-Brown and Miles Miller-Dickson are on the UMD team which is now one step closer to helping establish the moving parts for the Hyperloop transportation system, having advanced among 29 others in the SpaceX-sponsored Hyperloop Pod Competition this year. Read More
Jay Sau, Assistant Professor and JQI fellow, received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his proposal titled “Topologically Protected Quantum Devices.” Sau, a theoretical condensed matter physicist interested in applying topological principles to create protected solid-state and cold-atomic systems for quantum information processing, will use the $443,908 award to build a research program focused on predicting phenomena that could help pave the way for topological quantum computation.
“Receiving an NSF CAREER award is a great honor because it represents validation from the condensed matter physics community of my work in research and education,” said Sau. “I am excited to use the award to predict truly macroscopic quantum systems and phenomena, in collaboration with experimental colleagues at Maryland who elucidate the beautiful physics of topological field theory.”
While quantum mechanics naturally operates at excruciatingly tiny length scales—such as those found in a single atom—physicists are also interested in examining much larger quantum systems where the individual quantum pieces can interact through many pathways. In this case, stabilizing the associated quantum phenomena can be exceedingly difficult due to the detrimental influence of the unavoidable interaction of the large system with its surroundings. One possible approach to creating and studying such macroscopic quantum phenomena is based on recently discovered topological phases in condensed matter systems, which for fundamental reasons are effectively protected from the environment.
The funded research aims to investigate the rich variety of static and dynamical phenomena that arise from the interplay of novel topological phases with conventional physics, such as electrostatic interactions, crystal lattice vibrations and material impurities. Recent experiments indicate that the physics of topological systems cannot be understood without considering these conventional ingredients. In addition, exploring the physics resulting from this interplay will likely lead to the discovery of new phenomena, which could influence the design of quantum computers.
As part of the award, Sau will teach an extended online course that will be available internationally and host an open-access forum for graduate and undergraduate students on topological phases. He will also participate in outreach activities in the local community and contribute to a seminar series that aims to retain underrepresented minority physics students at UMD who transfer from community college.
Sau has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed journal publications. Before joining the UMD faculty in 2013, Sau worked as a postdoctoral researcher in physics at Harvard University and UMD. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, and his doctoral degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.
The CAREER award is the NSF's most prestigious award in support of junior faculty members who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. The award provides five years of financial support.
Sankar Das Sarma, Richard E. Prange Chair in Physics, Distinguished University Professor, Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute, and Director of the Condensed Matter Theory Center was included on Thomson Reuter’s 2015 list of Highly Cited Researchers, a compilation of influential names in science.
Das Sarma’s research interests include condensed matter physics, statistical mechanics, and quantum information. A theoretical condensed matter physicist, Das Sarma has worked in the areas of strongly correlated materials, graphene, semiconductor physics, low-dimensional systems, topological matter, quantum Hall effect, nanoscience, spintronics, collective properties of ultra-cold atomic and molecular systems, optical lattice, many-body theory, Majorana fermion, and quantum computation. In 2005, Das Sarma, with colleagues Chetan Nayak and Michael Freedman of Microsoft Research, introduced the nu=5/2 topological qubit that led to experiments in building a fault-tolerant quantum computer based on two-dimensional semiconductor structures.
Das Sarma, a physics faculty member at UMD since 1980, received his undergraduate degree in physics in 1973 from Presidency College in Kolkata, India and his Ph.D. in theoretical condensed physics in 1979 from Brown University.
The Highly Cited Researchers list features 3,126 authors from 21 science disciplines whose published work in their specialty areas has consistently been judged by their peers to be of particular use and significance. These researchers earned the distinction by writing the greatest numbers of reports officially designated by Essential Science Indicators as Highly Cited Papers—ranking among the top 1 percent most cited for their subject field and year of publication. The 2015 Highly Cited Researchers list incorporates all of the feedback received between September 8, 2015 and December 1, 2015.
The Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers list is one of several criteria used by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University to determine the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
‘‘The Martian’’ is the most prescient science fiction movie I have seen in some years. I don't say this lightly. And as is the case with many in my field, my own awakening to the very existence of science was spurred by science fiction — a 1953 film called ‘‘Spaceways," which I saw at a very young age, living on a U.S. military base near St. John’s, Newfoundland in Canada. Read More
The White House is honoring Robert Fischell, a scientist and inventor whose 2005 donation established the University of Maryland's Fischell Department of Bioengineering, with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation for his work developing medical devices. Read More
