IRG 1: Materials Science of Quantum Phenomena in van der Waals Heterostructures

IRG1

ABOUT IRG1

IRG1 combines two-dimensional materials into van der Waals heterostructures (vdWH) hosting emergent quantum phenomena.  IRG1 focuses on foundational materials issues underlying this goal by synthesizing the highest-purity crystals of key layered systems and creating heterostructures with ultraclean and well-characterized interfaces. This rigorous approach will provide a true understanding of fundamental structure/property relationships in vdWH that is not present in the field today. Three classes of quantum phenomena – tunable superfluids, non-equilibrium states, and topological quantum states – motivate this work.  These phenomena underpin future quantum information, sensing and computing technologies.

PARTICIPANTS

Faculty Leaders:  Katayun Barmak, Cory Dean

2025-2026 IRG Fellows: Jesse Balgley, Madisen Holbrook

Participating Researchers:  Jennifer Cano, Cory Dean, James Hone, Lia Krusin-Elbaum, Vinod Menon, Andrew Millis, Abhay Pasupathy, Raquel Queiroz, Sonya Smith, Maria Tamargo, Xiaoyang Zhu

Postdocs: Zhihao Cui (Millis/Reichman), Sanat Ghosh (Pasupathy), Madisen Holbrook (Hone/Pasupathy), Daniel Muñoz-Segovia (Millis/Queiroz), Jinho Park (Hone), Yongxin Zeng (Millis)

Graduate Students: Owethu Bukula (Hone), Entela Buzi (Krusin-Elbaum), Xuanjing Chu (Hone), Agneya Dharmapalan (Menon), Candice Forrester (Tamargo), Luke Holtzman (Barmak/Hone), Ayesha Lakra (Krusin-Elbaum), Nabil Lhachemi (Cano), Eric Seewald (Pasupathy), Aya Batoul Tazi (Pasupathy), Meiyang Wang (Hone), Adam Williams (Dean), Sunggun (Simon) Yoon (Hone)

Undergraduate Students: Quentin Taylor (Smith)

 

PAST RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Since 2014, the IRG1 team has built a strong foundation for the field and dramatically advanced discovery and understanding of novel phenomena such as 2D superconductivity and topological phases. Some of IRG1's key research findings include the following: