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Condensed Matter & Materials Physics

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Condensed Matter & Materials Physics (CMMP)

The Condensed Matter & Materials Physics Group (CMMP) consists of 19 research groups who cover a wide range condensed matter physics. The CMMP’s research combines experimental, theoretical and computational approaches. Systems studied include nanodevices, battery materials, multiferroics, chemical reactions, defects, surfaces, correlated electronic states, spin liquids, spin ice, ultrathin epitaxial films, heterostructures, biological systems and soft matter. Techniques applied include neutron and X-ray scattering, atomic-scale fabrication, scanning tunnelling microscopy, thermodynamic measurements, and computational modelling. The CMMP maintains strong connections with the UK central facilities at Harwell, with the Thomas Young Centre for computational materials physics and with the London Centre for Nanotechnology.

 

Research Highlights

 

Machine learning the electric field response of condensed phase systems using perturbed neural network potentials

Kit Joll, Philipp Schienbein, Kevin M Rosso, and Jochen Blumberger

A machine learning method is introduced that enables nanosecond simulation of condensed phase systems interacting with external electric fields at ab-initio accuracy.

PK Joll, P Schienbein, KM Rosso, and J Blumberger. Machine learning the electric field response of condensed phase systems using perturbed neural network potentials. Nat Commun 15, 8192 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52491-3

Nature of Topological Phase Transition of Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquids

Huanzhi Hu and Frank Kruger

The topological phase transition between the gapless and gapped Kitaev quantum spin liquids becomes non-trivial in the presence of additional magnetic interactions, resulting in a new universality class with non-Fermi liquid behaviour of the emergent Majorana fermions.

Huanzhi Hu and Frank Kruger. Nature of Topological Phase Transition of Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquids. Phys Rev Lett 133, 146603 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.146603

Thermoelectric transport in molecular crystals driven by gradients of thermal electronic disorder

Jan Elsner, Yucheng Xu, Elliot D Goldberg, Filip Ivanovic, Aaron Dines, Samuele Giannini, Henning Sirringhaus, and Jochen Blumberger

A quantum dynamical simulation approach is developed revealing in atomistic detail how the charge carrier wavefunction moves along a temperature gradient in an organic molecular crystal.

Jan Elsner et al. Thermoelectric transport in molecular crystals driven by gradients of thermal electronic disorder. Sci Adv 10, eadr1758 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr1758

Disorder-Induced Transition from Transient Quantum Delocalization to Charge Carrier Hopping Conduction in a Nonfullerene...

...Acceptor Material          Ljiljana Stojanović, Jack Coker, Samuele Giannini, Giacomo Londi, Anders S. Gertsen, Jens Wenzel Andreasen, Jun Yan, Gabriele D’Avino, David Beljonne, Jenny Nelson, and Jochen Blumberger

In organic semiconductors, charge carriers may form delocalized or localized quasiparticles depending on molecular properties and environmental effects. Here, it is shown how structural and electrostatic disorder induce localization.

Stojanović, L et al. Disorder-Induced Transition from Transient Quantum Delocalization to Charge Carrier Hopping Conduction in a Nonfullerene Acceptor Material. Phys Rev X 14, 021021 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.14.021021

Critical fluctuations in a confined driven-dissipative quantum condensate

Hassan Alnatah, Paolo Comaron, Shouvik Mukherjee, Jonathan Beaumariage,  Loren N Pfeiffer, Ken West, Kirk Baldwin, Marzena Szymańska, and David W Snoke

Phase fluctuations determine the low-energy properties of quantum condensates. However, at the condensation threshold, both density and phase fluctuations are relevant. The manifestation of a critical quantum state competition unlocks possibilities for the study of condensate formation while linking to practical realizations in photonic lasers.

Hassan Alnatah et al. Critical fluctuations in a confined driven-dissipative quantum condensate. Sci Adv 10, eadi6762 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi6762

EUV-induced hydrogen desorption as a step towards large-scale silicon quantum device patterning

Procopios Constantinou, Taylor J. Z. Stock, Li-Ting Tseng, Dimitrios Kazazis, Matthias Muntwiler, Carlos A. F. Vaz, Yasin Ekinci, Gabriel Aeppli, Neil J. Curson, and Steven R. Schofield

Unleashing the power of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) light, scientists from UCL and the Paul Scherrer Institute, EPFL, and ETHZ in Switzerland have devised an innovative technique for patterning hydrogen-terminated silicon, charting a course towards the large-scale fabrication of quantum devices in silicon.

Procopios Constantinou et al. EUV-induced hydrogen desorption as a step towards large-scale silicon quantum device patterning. Nat Commun 15, 694 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44790-6