Polshyn Group

Emergent electronic phenomena in 2D materials

Graphene and other two-dimensional materials open exciting opportunities to realize electronic systems that show fascinating collective behaviors. Investigating electronic phenomena in these novel 2D materials could set the foundation for the next generation of electronic devices and quantum computation. The goal of the Polshyn Group is to uncover new emergent electronic states in 2D materials and explore their unique properties.

The Polshyn Group creates clean and exceptionally tunable 2D electronic systems by applying advanced nanofabrication techniques to graphene and other van der Waals materials. Combining atomically-thin layers of these materials in different ways and purposefully introducing misalignments between the layers allows one to efficiently tune both the strengths and the character of the electronic interactions. In the limit of strong interactions, electrons realize a number of correlated phases that include superconductivity, spin and valley ferromagnetism, and robust topological states. Remarkably, in some van der Waals systems, the transitions between all these quantum phases can be observed by in situ tuning a single device. Hence, these systems provide a unique platform for investigating novel electronic phases and their potential applications. The Polshyn Group uses ultra-low-temperature electronic transport measurements and other experimental techniques to probe the nature of emergent correlated states and search for the states with exotic topological properties.