UCF Physicist Observes Breakthrough
Research team members of Dr. Neupane at UCF from left to right: Taiason Cole (Undergraduate student), Dr. Madhab Neupane, Gyanendra Dhakal (Graduate student), Klauss Dimitri (Undergraduate student), Md Mofazzel Hosen (Graduate student)
UCF physicist Madhab Neupane, Ph.D., led a group of international researchers to examine BiPd, discovering characteristics never seen before in the material.
“These characteristics have the potential to be the first step in an entirely new field of electronics and technology,” explained Neupane, assistant professor in the Department of Physics.
Neupane led the team of researchers with Tomasz Durakiewicz, Ph.D., from Los Alamos National Laboratory. Physics graduate students Mofazzel Hosen and Nagendra Dhakal, as well as undergraduate student Klauss Dimitri, assisted Neupane throughout the project.
The team’s research “Observation of the spin-polarized surface state in a noncentrosymmetric superconductor BiPd” was published November 7, 2016 in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.
This research is on the frontier of its field worldwide, with this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics being awarded to research regarding the same concepts and ideas.
The researchers are the first to provide direct evidence that BiPd, a noncentrosymmetric material, exhibits spin polarized surface states. This is a similar property found within topological insulators – a promising class of solids that conduct electricity on its surface but block it through its interior, Neupane explained.
The team used an advanced technique known as Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES) throughout its research. The technique analyzed the electronic structure of BiPd to precisely determine its properties.
“The detailed description of BiPd’s electronic structure combined with the team’s field knowledge led us to this breakthrough idea,” said Neupane. “We were able to recognize the potential of this material.”
Neupane was responsible for the overall research direction of the team, including the planning and integration among the different research units. This involved the coordination of the project’s components such as access to material, instruments, and data processing.
Neupane compared the team’s breakthrough discovery of BiPd’s material to the discovery of silicon. “Researchers had no idea that it would be one of the key materials in the computers and tools that currently govern our lives,” Neupane said.
So while it is not possible to precisely recognize the potential of BiPd and its family at this time, it’s a safe bet that it will play an important role in quantum computers and other technologies of the future, he explained.
Neupane said the team will keep on searching for materials similar to BiPd that may one day change the way we live.
“Our time may be limited but our dedication is not,” Neupane said. “We look forward to conducting further research that can be classified as revolutionary and may one day have you living a life much different than todays.”
Neupane and Durakiewicz worked on this project with collaborators from Princeton University and Northeastern University of USA, National Taiwan University and National Tsing Hua University of Taiwan, Hiroshima University of Japan, National University of Singapore of Singapore and Polish Academy of Sciences of Poland.
To read the team’s paper, click here.