Physics graduate pupil Jeong Min (Jane) Park is among the many 32 distinctive early-career scientists worldwide chosen to obtain the celebrated 2024 Schmidt Science Fellows award.
As a 2024 Schmidt Science Fellow, Park’s postdoctoral work will search to straight detect phases that might host new particles by using an instrument that may visualize subatomic-scale phenomena.
Along with her advisor, Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Inexperienced Professor of Physics, Park’s analysis at MIT focuses on discovering novel quantum phases of matter.
“When there are a lot of electrons in a cloth, their interactions can result in collective behaviors that aren’t anticipated from particular person particles, often known as emergent phenomena,” explains Park. “One instance is superconductivity, the place interacting electrons mix collectively as a pair at low temperatures to conduct electrical energy with out power loss.”
Throughout her PhD research, she has investigated novel varieties of superconductivity by designing new supplies with focused interactions and topology. Specifically, she used graphene, atomically skinny two-dimensional layers of graphite, the identical materials as pencil lead, and turned it right into a “magic” materials. This so-called magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene offered a very sturdy type of superconductivity that’s strong beneath excessive magnetic fields. Later, she discovered a complete “magic household” of those supplies, elucidating the important thing mechanisms behind superconductivity and interaction-driven phenomena. These outcomes have offered a brand new platform to review emergent phenomena in two dimensions, which may result in improvements in electronics and quantum know-how.
Park says she is wanting ahead to her postdoctoral research with Princeton College physics professor Ali Yazdani’s lab.
“I’m excited concerning the concept of discovering and finding out new quantum phenomena that might additional the understanding of elementary physics,” says Park. “Having explored interaction-driven phenomena by means of the design of latest supplies, I’m now aiming to broaden my perspective and experience to deal with a unique form of query, by combining my background in materials design with the subtle local-scale measurements that I’ll undertake throughout my postdoc.”
She explains that elementary particles are labeled as both bosons or fermions, with contrasting behaviors upon interchanging two an identical particles, known as change statistics; bosons stay unchanged, whereas fermions purchase a minus signal of their quantum wavefunction.
Theories predict the existence of essentially totally different particles often known as non-abelian anyons, whose wavefunctions braid upon particle change. Such a braiding course of can be utilized to encode and retailer data, doubtlessly opening the door to fault-tolerant quantum computing sooner or later.
Since 2018, this prestigious postdoctoral program has sought to interrupt down silos amongst scientific fields to resolve the world’s largest challenges and help future leaders in STEM.
Schmidt Science Fellows, an initiative of Schmidt Sciences, delivered in partnership with the Rhodes Belief, identifies, develops, and amplifies the following technology of science leaders, by constructing a group of scientists and supporters of interdisciplinary science and leveraging this community to drive sector-wide change. The 2024 fellows include 17 nationalities throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
Nominated candidates bear a rigorous choice course of that features a paper-based educational evaluation with panels of specialists of their house disciplines and closing interviews with panels, together with senior representatives from throughout many scientific disciplines and totally different enterprise sectors.
