FRG 1 - Quantum Materials
Focus Research Group 1 will explore the emergent phenomena driven by the complex interplay between correlation, topology, and spin-orbit coupling in a variety of quantum and topological materials.
Researchers
- Christian Binek, UNL Physics (Scientific Director)
- Peter Dowben, UNL Physics
- Yinsheng Guo, UNL Chemistry
- Xia Hong, UNL Physics (group leader)
- Alexey Kovalev, UNL Physics
- Rebecca Lai, UNL Chemistry (E/O leader)
- Robert Streubel, UNL Physics
- Evgeny Tsymbal, UNL Physics
- Xiaoshan Xu, UNL Physics
Research Thrust 1:
Correlation, Topological, and Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Materials
Thrust 1 focuses on nanoscale thin films and heterostructures hosting topological antiferromagnetic (AFM) states, Berry phase effects in real and reciprocal spaces, and correlation-driven phenomena. FRG 1 seeks novel approaches to achieve energy efficient control of these quantum states, including the lift of Dirac nodal lines via Néel vector switching, novel tunneling behaviors, and electrical field effect control of topological Hall effects, which will be complemented with theoretical modeling.

Research Thrust 2:
Magnoelectric and Valley Control of Layered, 2D Materials
Thrust 2 explores magnetoelectric and valley control of topological phases and valley-spin locking in layered 2D vdW materials, facilitating the development of a versatile platform for both charge and spin based topological quantum computing.

Research Thrust 3:
New Materials for Spin-qubit Systems
Thrust 3 utilizes chemistry-based, bottom-up approaches to design material platforms that can host spin-qubits, seeks voltage control of molecular spin states for quantum logic operations, and explores their potential for achieving scalable quantum information storage and transfer.
![FSchematics of (a) molecular qubit-linker-qubit structure, (b) SCO molecule Fe[H2B(pz)2]2(bipy), (c) RT conductance vs. applied voltage of a 20 nm Fe[H2B(pz)2]2(bipy) device (inset) on a uniform C5H2O5 film, and (d) 3D MOF of formula (VO (TCPP-Zn2-bpy)) (TCPP = tetracarboxyl- phenylporphyrinate; bpy=4,4′-bipyridyl).](frg1/images/frg1-thrust3-4.png)
FRG-1 Selected Publications
- Tsymbal, Evgeny Y. (2021). Two-dimensional ferroelectricity by design. Science. 372 (6549)
- Pahari, Rabindra; Balasubramanian, Balamurugan; Ullah, Ahsan; Manchanda, Priyanka; Komuro, Hiroaki; Streubel, Robert; Klewe, Christoph; Valloppilly, Shah R.; Shafer, Padraic; Dev, Pratibha; Skomski, Ralph; Sellmyer, David J. (2021). Peripheral chiral spin textures and topological Hall effect in CoSi nanomagnets. Physical review materials. 5
- Shevchenko, Valery; Bliznyuk, Valery; Gumenna, Mariana; Klimenko, Nina; Stryutsky, Alexandr; Wang, Junlei; Binek, Christian; Chernyakova, Margarita; Belikov, Konstantin. (2021). Coordination Polymers Based on Amphiphilic Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes and Transition Metal Ions (Co2+, Ni2+): Structure and Stimuli‐Responsive Properties. Macromolecular Materials and Engineering. 306 (5)
- Su, Jing; Zheng, Xingwen; Wen, Zheng; Li, Tao; Xie, Shijie; Rabe, Karin M.; Liu, Xiaohui; Tsymbal, Evgeny Y. (2021). Resonant band engineering of ferroelectric tunnel junctions. Physical Review B. 104 (6)
- Hao, Guanhua; N’Diaye, Alpha T.; Ekanayaka, Thilini K.; Dale, Ashley S.; Jiang, Xuanyuan; Mishra, Esha; Mellinger, Corbyn; Yazdani, Saeed; Freeland, John W.; Zhang, Jian; Cheng, Ruihua; Xu, Xiaoshan; Dowben, Peter A. (2021). Magnetic Field Perturbations to a Soft X-ray-Activated Fe (II) Molecular Spin State Transition. Magnetochemistry. 7 (10) .
- Li, Tianlin; Zhang, Le; Hong, Xia. (2022). Anisotropic magnetoresistance and planar Hall effect in correlated and topological materials. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A. 40 (1)
- Shao, Ding-Fu; Zhang, Shu-Hui; Li, Ming; Eom, Chang-Beom; Tsymbal, Evgeny Y. (2021). Spin-neutral currents for spintronics. Nature Communications. 12 (1) .
- Dhingra, Archit; Komesu, Takashi; Kumar, Shiv; Shimada, Kenya; Zhang, Le; Hong, Xia; Dowben, Peter A. (2021). Electronic band structure of iridates. Materials Horizons
- Mahmood, Ather; Echtenkamp, Will; Street, Mike; Wang, Jun-Lei; Cao, Shi Cao; Komesu, Takashi; Dowben, Peter A.; Buragohain, Pratyush; Lu, Haidong; Gruverman, Alexei; Parthasarathy, Arun; Rakheja, Shaloo; Binek, Christian. (2021). Voltage-Controlled Néel Vector Rotation in Zero Applied Magnetic Field. Nature communications.
- Streubel, Robert; Tsymbal, Evgeny Y.; Fischer, Peter. (2021). Magnetism in curved geometries. Journal of Applied Physics. 129 (21)
- Gurung, Gautam and Shao, Ding-Fu and Tsymbal, Evgeny Y. (2021). Transport spin polarization of noncollinear antiferromagnetic antiperovskites. Physical Review Materials. 5 (12)
- Hong, Xia. (2021). Nitride perovskite becomes polar. Science. 374 (6574)
- Angizi, Shaahin; Khoshavi, Navid; Marshall, Andrew; Dowben, Peter; Fan, Deliang. (2022). MeF-RAM: A New Non-Volatile Cache Memory Based on Magneto-Electric FET. ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems. 27 (2)