MSE Seminar: Matt Ferguson Ph.D. ’22 (Max Planck Institute)

Strain control of micro-structured quantum materials

Quantum materials have the potential to play a central role in next-generation electronic and information processing devices. Despite this promise, the predictive design of new materials with improved functionality remains an outstanding challenge. Strain engineering offers a route towards on-demand control over the electronic properties of a wide range of materials systems, without introducing disorder or complexity via chemical dopants. I will describe how the effects of strain in superconducting CeIrIn5 microstructures can be directly visualized with magnetic imaging. This example illustrates not only the potential for strain engineering in micro-structured samples, but also the importance of local thermodynamic information for understanding their properties. I will then discuss recent work which extends this approach to allow in situ control over the strain field in microstructures. Precise control over the sample geometry, combined with in situ mechanical manipulation via a piezoelectric strain cell provides opportunities for strain engineering which are unavailable using traditional approaches. Finally, I will highlight how these capabilities open new avenues for realizing and controlling electronic functionality in quantum materials.

Bio: Matt Ferguson earned his Ph.D. in physics in 2022 from Cornell University, where he used magnetic imaging to visualize electronic transport in superconductors and magnetic topological insulators. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Chemical Physics of Solids where he is developing new ways to identify and control quantum materials with continuously tunable in situ strain.