Events Calendar

Matthew Gilbert, Nano Science & Technology Seminar Series, Tuesday, April 4 at 2:00pm in EEB 248

Speaker: Matthew J. Gilbert, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Talk Title: Topological Energy Transduction

Abstract: Within the CMOS architecture, the interconnected devices may either be categorized as an "active" device, which produces energy in the form of a current or a voltage, or a "passive" device, which stores or maintains energy in the form of a current or voltage. The societal demand for smaller sized electronic devices, such as computers and cellular phones, with improved functionality has forced not only the sizes of the constituent components of CMOS information processing technology to rapidly shrink, but for the operational frequencies to increase. While it has been possible to reduce the size of active CMOS devices, passive devices have not seen the same reduction in size. Of the passive devices (e.g. resistors, capacitors and inductors) used in CMOS technologies, the circuit element that consumes the most area on a circuit board while simultaneously finding the least success in miniaturization is the inductor. In this talk, we will present a novel method for energy transduction that utilizes the interplay between magnetism and topology on the surface of a newly discovered materials, referred to as time-reversal invariant topological insulators, to create a paradigmatically different inductor. Using a novel self-consistent simulation that couples AC non-equilibrium Green functions to fully electrodynamic solutions of Maxwell's equations, we demonstrate excellent inductance densities up to terahertz frequencies thereby providing a potential solution to an eminent grand challenge.

Biography: Matthew J. Gilbert is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He is affiliated with the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, the Department of Physics and the Institute for Condensed Matter Theory at UIUC. His research broadly focuses on theoretically elucidating new phenomena in emergent nanoscale systems with the goal of developing new types of nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices and functionality for next-generation information processing systems. The majority of his current work revolves around understanding the properties of topological materials, including insulators, semimetals and superconductors, with the goal of understanding their potential role in the post-CMOS device landscape. This research also includes examinations into the appearance and stability of unconventional superconductivity and non-Abelian anyons, such as Majorana and parafermions, in topological systems for the purposes of topological quantum computation. His emerging research interests include: the role of interactions in the classification and properties of topological systems, dissipation and relaxation in non-equilibrium materials and systems, transport properties and phenomena in 2D materials particularly those under strain, energy harvesting using topological materials, and designer layered quantum materials. He has authored more than 70-refereed publications, and has given presentations at over 50 international conferences.

Host: Wang, Zhou, Cronin, Wu - MHI

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Marilyn Poplawski