Kenneth Burch
Boston College, MA·Physics
Some materials have "topological" properties, features of their quantum states that cannot change without a dramatic transition, much like a doughnut's hole cannot vanish by gentle stretching. These phases are hard to identify directly.
- Fields
Physics
Materials Science
- Topics
FeTeSe
iron-based superconductors
topological superconductivity
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Determine whether the boundary mode observed in FeTeSe superconductors reflects true topological order by systematically varying device configurations and material parameters.
- Test how spin-orbit coupling (the link between electron spin and motion), bandwidth and symmetry shape the topological superconducting state in FeTeSe.
- Examine how contact properties and superconducting order affect the boundary mode, to connect edge behavior to the bulk material.
More about the research
They usually reveal themselves through new modes, or states, that appear at their edges or boundaries. When topology combines with superconductivity (electrical flow with zero resistance), the boundary modes are especially hard to confirm, yet they could someday serve as protected quantum bits for topological quantum computing. This project studies FeTeSe, an iron-tellurium-selenium superconductor in which such a state is believed to emerge.
Why it matters
The boundary modes studied in FeTeSe could eventually serve as protected quantum bits for topological quantum computing. Establishing reliable ways to identify topological superconducting states would help physicists and future quantum-technology developers tell genuine topological materials from look-alikes.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Heike Pfau
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Physics·Early-career
Use uniaxial pressure cells to strain unconventional superconductors and measure their changing electronic structure with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), to uncover the interactions that cause electrons to pair.
Vladyslav Kozii
Carnegie Mellon University, PA·Physics·Early-career
Develop and analyze theoretical pairing mechanisms for superconductors with very low electron density, determining when superconductivity can survive as carrier density approaches zero.
Nirmal Ghimire
University of Notre Dame, IN·Physics·Early-career
Synthesize kagome lattice magnets, materials with magnetic atoms on a corner-sharing triangle network, and use magnetotransport measurements to study how topological effects in real and momentum space interact.
The school
Boston College: 11 labs on PI Pages, $96M a year on research, 161 research doctorates a year.
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