Yu Gong
College of Charleston, SC·Physics
Atoms in a crystal are never still; they vibrate together in coordinated waves. These vibrations, called phonons, carry energy and can also carry information.
- Fields
Physics
Materials Science
- Topics
topological phonons
lattice vibrations
quantum materials
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Sep 2027
What they work on
- Generate and track topological phonons, robust lattice vibrations in crystalline quantum materials, using ultrafast optical spectroscopy and microscopy with extremely short laser pulses.
- Control phonon dynamics by tuning light-matter interaction, testing how frequency, amplitude and damping of topological phonon modes can be adjusted.
- Relate phonon behavior to material composition and structure by combining measurements on synthesized and characterized quantum materials with computational modeling from collaborators.
- Establish a quantum information science research program at an undergraduate institution, training College of Charleston undergraduates in ultrafast optical measurement through shared resources with the University of South Carolina.
More about the research
In certain materials, some vibrational modes are "topological," meaning they live at surfaces or boundaries and are unusually robust against defects and disturbances. Such modes are attractive for future quantum technologies because they operate at very high (terahertz) frequencies and use little energy, but generating and controlling them remains difficult.
Why it matters
Robust, high-frequency lattice vibrations could serve as carriers of quantum information in devices that process signals faster and with less energy than conventional electronics. Identifying which materials host controllable topological phonons may guide the design of integrated quantum phononic devices, and the project trains undergraduates in South Carolina for emerging quantum technology jobs.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ajay Ram Srimath Kandada
Wake Forest University, NC·Physics·Early-career
Measure how excitons couple to lattice vibrations in 2D metal halide perovskites by recording noise in the amplitude and phase of the optical response after launching coherent phonons, to isolate how random lattice fluctuations drive anharmonicity and polaron formation.
Lin Chen
Northwestern University, IL·Chemistry
Track how charge carriers and excitons localize and evolve in organic metal halide hybrids on femtosecond timescales using ultrafast optical spectroscopy.
Thomas Searles
Howard University, DC·Physics
Measure how reducing Dirac and Weyl semimetals from bulk crystals to single layers changes their optical response, using nonlinear optical spectroscopy from infrared to terahertz frequencies.
The school
College of Charleston: 2 labs on PI Pages, $9M a year on research.
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