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 future zero-resistance, superfluid-based computing aimed to dramatically reduce the 8% of global electricity consumed by computing.
Alex Nguyen (Monash Engineering Department of Material Sciences) uses a bar of chocolate to explain the electrical function of a topological insulator, with the bar’s foil edges representing dissipationless edge paths, and the (delicious) chocolate itself representing the electrically-insulating interior.
Rishabh Mishra (Swinburne) explains the use of ultra-fast laser pulses to excite and understand high-temperature superconductors, which could unlock ultra-low energy future electronics.
Alex Nguyen also entered 3MT in 2020, submitting this explanation of disordered materials, inspired by chaotic gardening.
The 3MT competition cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. Presenting in a 3MT competition increases students’ capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.