The Columbia MRSEC on Precision-Assembled Quantum Materials (PAQM), led by Columbia University in partnership with the City College of New York, Howard University, Harvard University, and Stony Brook University, encompasses two IRGs that build higher dimensional materials from lower dimensional structures to create the next generation of quantum, optoelectronic, and energy transport materials.
The PAQM research program spans the traditional disciplines and integrates theory, design, synthesis, device fabrication, and materials testing, fostering a highly collaborative research environment that groundbreaking research. The PAQM research effort is amplified by strong connections to national laboratories and international partners.
PAQM seeks to support STEM and materials education at all levels and train the next generation of researchers. The educational and research efforts of PAQM aim to increase diversity at all levels, particularly in fields related to Materials Science and Engineering.
Brochure
Materials Science of Quantum Phenomena in van der Waals Heterostructures
IRG 1, Materials Science of Quantum Phenomena in van der Waals Heterostructures, combines two-dimensional van der Waals materials into pristine layered heterostructures. Under an existing MIRT program, this team has demonstrated successful collaboration to develop proof-of-concept heterostructures with unprecedented size, perfection, and complexity, giving us the ideal building blocks for the current effort.
This IRG focuses on three research thrusts:
Expanding the class of available materials, particularly using synthetic methods that produce large-area films;
Measuring and controlling the properties of atomically thin vdW materials in a protected, ultralow-disorder environment; and
Creating new interfaces that exhibit emergent electronic phenomena.
Controlling Electrons, Phonons, and Spins in Superatomic Materials
IRG 2, Controlling Electrons, Phonons, and Spins in Superatomic Materials, assembles new classes of functional materials using precisely defined superatom building blocks coupled together with new forms of inter-superatom bonding. This approach will combine encoding of desirable physical properties within the building blocks with exquisite control of inter-superatom interaction, to create materials with tunable properties and multiple functionalities.
This IRG will develop and expand the superatom concept into a large "periodic table" to enable designer materials with unprecedented levels of complexity and functionality. It will initially focus on three materials areas:
Materials with independent control over magnetism and conductivity.
Materials with independent control over thermal and electrical transport properties.
Superatom assemblies that can have electronic phase transitions that may be induced by optical, mechanical, thermal, and other stimuli.
