Andrew Higginbotham
University of Chicago, IL·Physics·Early-career
Physics on a curved surface behaves differently than on a flat one, and this is especially interesting for quantum materials. For example, electric current flowing along a curved surface is predicted to produce a force whose character reveals information about the material carrying it.
- Fields
Physics
Materials Science
Engineering
- Topics
quantum materials
two-dimensional materials
2D materials
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Feb 2030
What they work on
- Measure the centrifugal force on supercurrent flowing on a curved surface, by detecting frequency shifts in trampoline membrane resonators carrying a superconductor.
- Test the prediction that superconducting vortices, tiny whirlpools of current, are repelled by regions of spatial curvature, using 2D-trampoline hybrid resonators.
- Search for mechanical signatures of the Wen-Zee curvature coupling in quantum Hall systems by integrating two-dimensional materials with trampoline membranes and measuring vibration frequencies.
More about the research
Such curvature-related forces are tiny and have been hard to detect. Yet they may offer a general way to identify topological materials, a class of materials valued for precise measurement standards, electronics and quantum computing.
Why it matters
A mechanical method for sensing how quantum materials respond to curvature could give a general way to identify topological materials, which matter for precision measurement, classical electronics and quantum computing. It may also offer a route to controlling material properties through curvature.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Kenneth Burch
Boston College, MA·Physics
Determine whether the boundary mode observed in FeTeSe superconductors reflects true topological order by systematically varying device configurations and material parameters.
Fereshte Ghahari Kermani
George Mason University, VA·Physics·Early-career
Measure the thermodynamic entropy carried by the emergent quasiparticles of fractional quantum Hall states using thermopower — the voltage produced by a temperature gradient — and test whether entropy can distinguish Abelian from non-Abelian states.
Victor Brar
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Physics·Early-career
Develop scanning tunneling potentiometry and scanning tunneling superconducting thermometry, tip-based methods that map charge and heat flow, and use them to image nanoscale flow in graphene.
The school
University of Chicago: 39 labs on PI Pages, $681M a year on research, 457 research doctorates a year.
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