Matthew Yankowitz, an associate professor of MSE and physics, has received an Early Career Program Award from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory. The five-year award will provide $1 million to support Yankowitz’s investigation into strong correlations and superconductivity in graphene flat bands.

MSE Associate Professor Matthew Yankowitz

“The physical properties of materials are ultimately determined by their atomic structures,” said Yankowitz. “Knowing the specific elements used to form a given crystal, along with the geometry of their repetitive tiling, allows us to predict the thermal, optical, mechanical, and electrical properties of the material. In some materials, even slight structural deformations can unlock entirely new behaviors.”

In recent years, research into the behaviors of electrons in materials that are only one atom thick has largely been dominated by investigating what happens when two atomically thin layers are stacked on top of each other, then twisted. That twist creates what are called moiré patterns, within which electron behavior is often difficult to predict. Yet, being able to directly control that behavior may be the key to developing new superconductors and quantum circuits.

Yankowitz is proposing a new approach: see what happens when the layers are subjected to pressure and strain. Using new techniques of his own invention, his lab will study electron behavior as they compress and stretch stacks of two-dimensional crystal sheets called van der Waals structures. Discovering how specific levels of compression and strain tuning alter these crystals’ properties, and especially how to reliably control those altered properties, could open entirely new avenues of research in the field.

“By harnessing superconducting and strongly correlated states, we may eventually develop fault-tolerant qubits for robust quantum computation, ultra-sensitive detectors for infrared imaging, or neuromorphic elements for next-generation AI systems,” said Yankowitz. “These are just a few of the possibilities, and there are surely many more that we as a scientific community have yet to imagine.”

Yankowitz's proposal is also under consideration for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), a distinction bestowed by the White House to those who show extraordinary promise in their fields.