This month’s ARC Discovery Project announcement saw FLEET research and researchers awarded additional research funding for ten projects building fundamental knowledge and strengthening Australia’s quantum, photonics and nanotechnology ecosystems.
See the Australian Research Council media release.
Dimitrie Culcer (UNSW); Allan MacDonald. Filling a substantial knowledge gap in novel semiconductors that can function as sensors in a frequency range where conventional semiconductors do not work, providing understanding of the way these materials interact with light to generate new knowledge in physics and materials science, guiding experiments, enabling future sensor design and identifying the best sensor materials in this frequency range, with applications in communications, defence, food and transport. $467,327
Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh (Sydney); Francois-Marie Allioux Exploring liquid-metal solvents for synthesising high-entropy and atomically-configured systems from the combination of reactive and high melting point elements stabilised in metallic solvents. Molecular imprinting, mechanical and electrochemical triggers will control interfacial atomic organisation and precipitation. The growth mechanisms, both at the interface and in the bulk, will be explored by high energy probing techniques and computational simulations, offering new metallurgical paradigms for future catalysis and sensing. $587,000
Jan Seidel (UNSW); Pankaj Sharma (Deakin) Engineering and utilising topological defects such as domain walls and and skyrmions in functional materials for fundamental research and future nanoelectronics, including negative-capacitance nanoelectronics that could revolutionise ultralow energy electronics. Create new concepts for the synthesis and design of topological nanostructures for applications that will provide efficient controllable functionality for future nanoelectronics. $600,044
Emma Laird (UQ) Develop new hydrodynamic theories of quantum fluids formed by ultracold quantum gases, filling a century-old knowledge gap in fluid dynamics (hydrodynamics), which are an indispensable tool for transformative applications in aeronautics, medicine, and climate science, but whose applicability to the realm of quantum matter and quantum fluids is not well understood. Reveal knowledge and theoretical tools to underpin Australia’s advances in quantum technology, such as quantum heat engines, heat transport in quantum nanowires, and new energy-efficient materials. $304,031
Pankaj Sharma (Deakin) Exploring and developing next-generation ferroelectric memory, addressing computing energy and speed issues by advancing novel ferroelectric quantum memory concepts and prototypes for new memory design, material principles and ferroelectric devices capable of not only storing huge amounts of data but also instant fast processing and brain like learning. Project benefits include high performance hardware solutions for AI and ‘big data’, boosting Australian quantum technology and industries. $373,732
Torben Daeneke; Michelle Spencer (RMIT) Develop basic design principles governing the performance of liquid-metal alloy catalysts for methane pyrolysis reaction and manufacturing of ammonia, generating new knowledge in understanding the reaction dynamics occurring at the gas-liquid metal interface under true working conditions and the composition-catalytic activity relationships of multi-component liquid alloy catalysts through a combined experimental and computational/theoretical approach. New liquid metal alloys will open the gateway to a new dimension of catalytic applications, benefitting Australia’s key societal challenges of emissions reduction, hydrogen storage and food security. $456,742
Jesper Levinsen; Dmitry Efimkin (Monash) Generate new theories of excitons in charge-doped atomically thin semiconductors, describing response to external probes, such as electric fields, of a range of new, novel materials. Treating the behaviour of semiconductors as a quantum impurity problem, where the excitons become modified by the surrounding electrons to form new types of particles to improve understanding of the impurity problem in 2D materials, facilitating their use in emerging technologies that combine electronics with photonics, for use in ultra-low-power devices such as photodectectors, LEDs, and lasers. $378,030
Agustin Schiffrin (Monash); Semonti Bhattacharyya Design novel 2D metal-organic nanomaterials and to control electronic quantum phases therein. The project expects to generate new fundamental knowledge in advanced materials, solid-state physics and quantum nanoscience. It will rely on supramolecular chemistry to synthesise new atomically precise functional materials. Expected outcomes include the fabrication of new advanced nanomaterials, as well as the observation and control of new quantum phenomena therein. The project should provide significant benefits, such as advancing basic research in quantum nanomaterials, and aiding to lay the foundation for next-generation electronics and information technologies. $484,097
Sumeet Walia (RMIT) Address fundamental questions regarding bioinspired artificial photoreceptors and neural-mimicking technologies that precisely mimic light capture abilities of photoreceptors, processing of retinal ganglion cells and functionalities in neurons, generating new fundamental and applied knowledge in bioengineered optoelectronic systems. New materials with tailored properties at an atomic level will provide dynamic control of current under different light stimulus wavelengths, allowing new, advanced materials-driven smart architectures that overcome limitations of solid-state systems for next-gen smart technologies. $451,143
Yuerui Lu (ANU) Investigate high-quality quantum light sources by harnessing interlayer biexcitons in atomically-thin heterostructures. Expand understanding of fundamental physics of photon-pair generation in atomically-thin heterostructures, demonstrating a prototype light-weight and intense quantum photon source based on novel materials, which can be readily integrated with photonic circuits for quantum communication technologies, enabling light-weight portable devices, such as wearable photonics. $614,114