Meeting Information

Tuning Electronic Structure and the Search for New Quantum States

May 18, 2016
The American Center for Physics
College Park, MD

Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Speaker: Dr. Johnpierre Paglione, Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland.

Topic: Tuning Electronic Structure and the Search for New Quantum States

Time and Location: 1:00 PM, with Q&A to follow; in a 1st floor conference room at the American Center for Physics (www.acp.org), 1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD - off River Rd. Between Kenilworth Ave. and Paint Branch Parkway.

Abstract: The quantum materials family has undergone a tremendous expansion in the last several years with the discovery of several interesting physical phenomena. Adding to the already rich fields of unconventional superconductivity, heavy-fermion physics and quantum criticality, the new field of topological phenomena has attracted much interest, owing for instance to the "topological protection" inherent in these materials that may allow us to realize exotic quantum states of matter and advanced technologies. In this talk I will summarize our broad efforts to study such materials synthesis and targeted experimentation, focusing our explorations of the extremely versatile ThCr2Si2 (122) crystal structure. In particular, I will explain our recent high pressure experiments on the iron superconductor KFe2As2, where we can experimentally induce a severe structural collapse that allows for direct manipulation of the electronic structure and the onset of a high-temperature superconducting state.

Biography: Johnpierre Paglione directs a research group in the Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials at the University of Maryland. His team has contributed to several fields of condensed matter research through both single-crystal synthesis of superconducting, quantum-critical and topological materials, as well as exploration of novel phenomena. He is a leader in the field of quantum criticality and has made important contributions to the fields of heavy-fermion materials and the quasiparticle picture of correlated materials. Dr. Paglione has more recently pursued several new areas of research including iron-based high-temperature superconductivity and topological insulators and superconductors. He is the recipient of a National Postdoctoral Fellowship Award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and an Early Career Award from the Department of Energy, and has been selected for an EPiQS Materials Synthesis Investigator Award by the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation. Dr. Paglione earned his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in Canada.