• Professors
• Administrative Staff
• Technical Staff
• Lecturers
• Graduate Students
• Positions Open

B.Sc., Physics and Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998. Ph.D., Applied Physics, Stanford University, 2005. NSERC / Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellow,  University of British Columbia, 2005-2007. Assistant Professor, Physics, Cornell University, 2007-present.

Research Areas
Investigating the electronic structure and interactions in strongly correlated quantum materials, such as high-temperature superconductors, colossal magnetoresistive manganites, Mott insulators, Luttinger liquids and artificially engineered quantum matter in epitaxial thin films. Experimental probes include angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and synchrotron-based x-ray techniques including x-ray absorption spectroscopy and resonant soft x-ray scattering

Current Research
Our research focuses on studying how strong quantum correlations between electrons in solids can give rise to dramatic and unexpected phenomena, such as high-temperature superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, or electron fractionalization. Much like how matter can come in solid, liquid, and gaseous forms, solids can also exist in many different "quantum states of matter", spanning from the mundane (metals and insulators) to the more exotic, like the examples given above. One of the frontiers of modern condensed matter physics is in studying and understanding these new and surprising quantum states of matter, many of which are still being discovered.

The goal of our research is to better understand the properties and mechanisms driving these systems by observing how electrons move and interact within these quantum materials. In order to visualize this complicated dance performed by the billions of electrons within these materials, we need sophisticated experimental probes. The primary tool of our group is angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), which is a direct descendant of Einstein's celebrated photoelectric effect. With this probe, we can create three-dimensional maps of how electrons propagate within a solid. By analyzing these maps, we can study the quantum many-electron interactions in novel materials. Using this information, we try to understand the origins of exotic and unexpected phenomena in condensed matter, such as high-temperature superconductivity, electron fractionalization, or the nanoscale ordering of the electrons' charge, spins, or orbitals.

We also use a number of techniques complementary to ARPES in order to gain additional insight into the electronic structure of quantum materials. These are synchrotron-based x-ray probes such as x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and resonant soft x-ray scattering (RSXS) which allow us to gain access to the distribution of charge, spins, and orbital states in solids, and currently perform experiments at CHESS, the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, the Canadian Light Source and the Advanced Light Source.

Our group has finished developing a new state-of-the-art ARPES system which is currently being used to study unconventional superconductors and correlated electron systems. Our group has recently begun a unique collaboration with Prof. Darrell Schlom's group (Materials Science & Engineering) to study artificially engineered quantum materials grown by molecular beam epitaxy and studied in situ using high-resolution ARPES.

Graduate Students
John Harter, Eric Monkman and Danny Shai