A chemical reaction as good as gold

Gold may hold the key to unlocking an elusive but highly desirable reaction pathway. A new Australian-led stud finds gold atoms could be key to unlocking organic reactions. Organic molecules are the building blocks for materials we use every day – from our clothes and coffee cups to the screen displays of our phones. Controlling reactions of these organic molecules …

A drop in the sea of electrons: Understanding Fermi polarons and their interactions

Multidimensional coherent spectroscopy (MDCS) on monolayer WS2 reveals Fermi polaron interactions Phase-space filling drives new optical selection rules, where excitons compete for the same electron Identification of a novel, cooperatively-bound exciton-exciton-electron state Recent Australian-led research has provided a world’s first measurement of interactions between Fermi polarons in an atomically-thin 2D semiconductor, using ultrafast spectroscopy capable of probing complex quantum materials. …

Four new Research Fellows: increasing our team’s strengths with diversity

FLEET welcomes four new research fellows, working in disparate roles across the Centre and all contributing to the improved diversity that makes the Centre greater than the sum of its parts: Dr Emma Laird (UQ) Dr Yonatan Ashlea Alava (UNSW) Dr Mengting Zhao (Monash) Dr Grace Causer (Monash) The four new fellows were successful candidates among 35 applicants for the …

Congratulations A/Prof Jesper Levinsen

Congratulations to FLEET’s Jesper Levinsen, whose work has been recognised by the Monash University Faculty of Science, as he is promoted to Associate Professor. FLEET Associate Investigator Jesper Levinsen is a theoretical physicist researching strongly-interacting quantum systems at the interface between condensed matter physics and the physics of ultracold atomic gases in the Monash School of Physics and Astronomy. “I …

Julie Karel recognised for excellence in research and science outreach

Congratulations to FLEET’s Dr Julie Karel (Monash), receiving a Victorian 2022 Young Tall Poppy Science Award, recognising her research in functional amorphous materials for future ultra-low energy electronics, and in science outreach. The Young Tall Poppy awards, an initiative of the Australian Institute of Policy and Science, recognise excellence in research as well as enthusiasm for communicating science beyond the …

Future Fellowship Mark Edmonds

Kagome metals: From Japanese basket to next generation electronic devices FLEET AI Dr Mark Edmonds received an ARC Future Fellowship in this week’s announcement by the Minister. The new ARC Fellowship will support Mark’s work investigating a new type of 2D material that is very promising for faster, more energy-efficient future electronic devices. ‘Kagome’ metals have a topological non-trivial nature …

Automation takes the misery out of scanning microscopy: FLEET Translation Program

FLEET Translation Program funding to automate the ‘boring parts’ of STM experiments, freeing up operators’ time Monash PhD candidate Julian Ceddia has been awarded funding from the first round of the FLEET Translation Program to further develop the automation of Scanning Tunnelling Microscopes (STMs), based on previous work from the group of his supervisor, Agustin Schiffrin. STMs are capable of …

Congratulations Nikhil Medhekar

Congratulations to FLEET CI Nikhil Medhekar at Monash University, who has been promoted to full Professor of  Materials Science and Engineering. Nikhil’s Computational Materials Lab at Monash University Faculty of Engineering Department of Materials Science and Engineering investigates the physics and mechanics of nanoscale materials for optoelectronic, energy and structural applications using a broad range of computational tools, including: First principles …

The hetero-interface is the device: a computational approach

Designing hetero-interfaces towards new optoelectronic functionalities using large-scale computations Assembling ‘Lego-like’ 2D ‘heterostructures’ can give rise to emergent properties and functionalities very different from the intrinsic characteristics of the constituents. Density functional theory (DFT)-based band-structure calculations can shed light on interfacial properties of different heterostructures. Interface properties of 2D perovskite/TMD heterostructures Heterostructures based on different 2D materials have resulted in …

2D materials workshop skilling up future Australian scientists

Nobel-winning material science in the classroom Gol Akhgar and Julie Karel (Monash) this month demonstrated graphene exfoliation with scotch-tape in the class, explaining the role of 2D materials in future beyond-CMOS electronics. The lesson is part of FLEET’s ongoing year-10 future electronics unit at John Monash Science School, which builds up from atomic/quantum fundamentals to transistor functions, logic circuits and …

Melbourne Knowledge Week 2022

Over the course of Melbourne Knowledge Week last week FLEET volunteers engaged with around 300 visiting members of the public, talking about FLEET’s mission to ensure a sustainable future for computing, with some fun props to demonstrate electromagnetic forces and the role of quantum materials such as superconductors. The bright yellow sustainable computers stall at the new MKW festival hub …

Making a ‘sandwich’ out of magnets and topological insulators, potential for lossless electronics

Designer heterostructure is a potential high-temperature QAHE, where a topological material is sandwiched between two ferromagnets A Monash University-led research team has discovered that a structure comprising an ultra-thin topological insulator sandwiched between two 2D ferromagnetic insulators becomes a large-bandgap quantum anomalous Hall insulator. Such a heterostructure provides an avenue towards viable ultra-low energy future electronics, or even topological photovoltaics. …

Jesper Levinsen outstanding referee

Congratulations to FLEET’s Jesper Levinsen, whose exceptional work as referee of peer-reviewed papers has been recognised by the Outstanding Referee Awards, one of only three in Australia in 2022, by the American Physical Society (APS). The APS recognises around 150 outstanding referees each year who have demonstrated exceptional work in the assessment of manuscripts submitted to the Physical Review journals. …

Negative capacitance in topological transistors could reduce computing’s unsustainable energy load

Australian researchers have discovered that negative capacitance could lower the energy used in electronics and computing, which represents 8% of global electricity demand. The researchers at four universities within the ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET) applied negative capacitance to make topological transistors switch at lower voltage, potentially reducing energy losses by a factor of ten …

Having your cake and eating it too: double-dosing induces magnetism while strengthening electron quantum oscillations in a topological insulator

Harnessing massive Dirac fermions in dual-magnetic-ion-doped Bi2Se3 topological insulator showing extremely strong quantum oscillations in the bulk. Double doping induces a gap for the topological surface state. A University of Wollongong-led team across three FLEET nodes has combined two traditional semiconductor doping methods to achieve new efficiencies in the topological insulator bismuth-selenide (Bi2Se3), Two doping elements were used: samarium (Sm) …

Welcoming Simon Granville (MacDiarmid) new FLEET Partner Investigator

Welcome to FLEET’s long-time collaborator Dr Simon Granville, who this month joins the Centre as a Partner Investigator. Simon is a Principal Investigator at FLEET’s partner organisation the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, where he leads the Institute’s Future Computing project to control electron transport and spin through superconductivity and topology. As a Senior Scientist at the Robinson …

World record broken for thinnest X-ray detector ever created

Highly sensitive and with a rapid response time, the new X-ray detector is less than 10 nanometres thick and could potentially lead to real-time imaging of cellular biology. Exciton Science and FLEET researchers have used tin mono-sulfide (SnS) nanosheets to create the thinnest X-ray detector ever made, potentially enabling real-time imaging of cellular biology. X-ray detectors are tools that allow …

New physics prize honours Shaun Johnstone

A new Monash award honours the memory of FLEET’s Shaun Johnstone, who passed away in December 2019. The Shaun Johnstone Prize will be awarded for the best paper written by a PhD student in experimental physics or astronomy published in the past year. Shaun passed away from cancer not too long after receiving his PhD in experimental physics from Monash …

Cheering on FLEET’s Mitko Oldfield in the International Visualise Your Thesis

FLEET’s Mitko Oldfield is competing in the International Visualise Your Thesis competition. Today (14 October) at 4:30pm (AEDST) they announce the winners and you can watch the event online. Mitko won the Monash University Visualise your thesis competition last month and is now competing against finalists from 25 participating universities around the world. The Visualise Your Thesis competition provides an ...

Electrons on the edge: the story of an intrinsic magnetic topological insulator

An intrinsic magnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 has been discovered with a large band gap, making it a promising material platform for fabricating ultra-low-energy electronics and observing exotic topological phenomena. Hosting both magnetism and topology, ultra-thin (only several nanometers in thickness) MnBi2Te4 was found to have a large band-gap in a Quantum Anomalous Hall (QAH) insulating state, where the material is …

Star attraction: magnetism generated in 2D organic material by star-like arrangement of molecules

2D kagome materials are a platform for tuneable electron-electron interactions ‘Star-like’ atomic-scale kagome geometry ‘switches on’ magnetism in a 2D organic material A 2D nanomaterial consisting of organic molecules linked to metal atoms in a specific atomic-scale geometry shows non-trivial electronic and magnetic properties due to strong interactions between its electrons. A new study, published today, shows the emergence of …

¡Felicidades! Fellowship success for Dr Iolanda Di Bernardo

Congratulations to FLEET Research Fellow Dr Iolanda Di Bernardo (Monash), who has received the highly prized Juan de la Cierva fellowship to fund research in Spain, starting in Spring 2022. The Juan de la Cierva fellowship is highly competitive, with a success rate between 10 and 15%, and is similar to the Australian DECRA fellowship. The grants encourage the recruitment …

New DECRA fellowships at FLEET

Three FLEET Research Fellows are amongst those receiving DECRA Fellowships in ARC announcements this week. Congratulations to: Dr Matt Reeves (UQ) Calming the Superfluid Storm: Taming Turbulence in Superfluid Devices Dr Eli Estrecho (ANU) Mixing light and matter with complex gauge fields Dr Qingdong Ou (Monash) Engineering twisted 2D materials for mid-infrared detectors. Dr Matt Reeves (UQ) Calming the Superfluid …

Mixing a cocktail of topology and magnetism for future electronics

Monash review: joining topological insulators with magnetic materials for energy-efficient electronics A new Monash review throws the spotlight on recent research in heterostructures of topological insulators and magnetic materials. In such heterostructures, the interesting interplay of magnetism and topology can give rise to new phenomena such as quantum anomalous Hall insulators, axion insulators and skyrmions. All of these are promising …

New 2D research hub features FLEET talent

A new ARC Research Hub highlighting the role of novel and 2D materials in emerging technologies in fields such as energy storage, purification and printed electronics features FLEET talent amongst its team. The ARC Research Hub for Advanced Manufacturing with 2D Materials (AM2D) will be led by Prof Mainak Majumder (Monash Department of Mechanical Engineering). Two FLEET Chief Investigators are amongst …

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Video explainers for 3MT

Tackling the next climate crisis with polariton superfluids, chocolate bars, ultra-fast laser pulses and chaotic gardening… FLEET’s Rishabh Mishra (Swinburne), Mitko Oldfield and Alex Nguyen (both at Monash University) have recently recorded explanations of their PhD research, submitted for the 2021 national Three Minute Thesis competition. Mitko Oldfield (School of Physics and Astronomy) explains his studies of polariton superfluids, with …

Congratulations Meera Parish and Agustin Schiffrin

Congratulations to two of FLEET’s Chief Investigators, whose contributions have recently been recognised by the School of Physics and Astronomy at Monash University: Meera Parish promoted to full Professor Agustin Schiffrin promoted to Associate Professor Prof Meera Parish (right) is a theoretical physicist developing many-body theories that span electron-hole systems and ultracold atomic gases. She is an ARC Future Fellow …

Creative, online lab demonstrations maintain international collaborations

How does global research collaboration work, while Covid-19 still prevents international in-lab visits? A recent FLEET collaboration found a creative solution, running in-lab demonstrations of new quantum technologies across multiple universities on two continents. FLEET’s Matthias Wurdack (ANU) and Semonti Bhattacharyya (Monash) were able to consult with researchers in the New York lab of FLEET PI Jim Hone (Columbia University), …

Australian STEM recognised in Shanghai rankings

Great results for STEM in Australian universities in the Shanghai/ARWU 2021 rankings, with Australian universities represented in the world top-100 for all the natural sciences and engineering disciplines except maths. Highlights amongst FLEET’s participating nodes include: Monash and ANU (#28) ranked in the global top 100 for physics UNSW top 40 for electronic engineering Monash, UOW, UNSW and UQ top 100 for material …

Engaging with end-users: Meeting the Melbourne Computer Club

What is the future of computing? As Moore’s law is approaching an end, new technologies are required to enable further advances in computational speed and energy-efficient data processing. As transistors took their first baby-steps over half a century ago, the next generation of electronic switches are being born today. Engaging with the Melbourne computing and electronics community in a ‘fireside …