FLEET AI Prof Sue Coppersmith (UNSW) kicked off her AIP Woman in Physics national tour this month in Victoria. Sue introduced over 250 students, teachers and public to the life of a theoretical physicist at five events around Melbourne. The busy three day schedule included: A public lecture at RMIT aimed at a physics-savvy public audience. Girls in Physics breakfast …
Infrastructure funding for FLEET researchers
This month’s ARC infrastructure funding round saw FLEET researchers across five universities on teams awarded additional funding towards research facilities, including significant new imaging resources in South Australia and NSW. Pankaj Sharma, initially a FLEET Research Fellow at UNSW and now a Centre AI at Flinders University (South Australia), will help develop new, state-of-the-art atomic force microscopy (AFM) facilities for the …
Meet FLEET innovation-and-industry event
An audience of around 90 gathered for the Meet FLEET event at UNSW earlier this month, comprising researchers, industry representatives and others. A major aim of the event was to serve as a bridge, fostering connections while providing industry professionals and researchers the opportunity to delve into collaborative research and development programs. Meet FLEET also showcased the Centre’s research capabilities …
ARC Discovery funding
This month’s ARC Discovery Project announcement saw FLEET research and researchers awarded additional research funding for ten projects building fundamental knowledge and strengthening Australia’s quantum, photonics and nanotechnology ecosystems. See the Australian Research Council media release. Dimitrie Culcer (UNSW); Allan MacDonald. Filling a substantial knowledge gap in novel semiconductors that can function as sensors in a frequency range where conventional …
Novel approach to advanced electronics, data storage with ferroelectricity
Published first at Flinders University Latest research from Flinders University and UNSW Sydney, published in the American Chemical Society ACS Nano journal, explores switchable polarization in a new class of silicon compatible metal oxides and paves the way for the development of advanced devices including high-density data storage, ultra low energy electronics, and flexible energy harvesting and wearable devices. The …
New technology for ultra-low noise quantum devices
The Challenge Increasingly smaller structures in nanoelectronic devices are desirable from an industry standpoint. Smaller devices lead to increased operation speed, packing density and lower power usage. There is a problem however with making smaller devices; the electrons need to be closer to the surface, and this worsens the electric properties of the device – such as electronic noise. This …
Safe, affordable and durable Zinc-ion batteries
The Challenge The development and deployment of energy-storage technologies are critical to meet the demands of the stationary global market, which is growing at 24% per year. While lithium-ion battery technology may appear suited, its high cost, unavoidable safety concerns, resource strains and extreme demand/supply imbalance are massive deterrents for mass adoption. We need battery technologies that are inexpensive, absolutely …
High-temperature superconducting electronics
The Challenge Superconducting electronic devices indeed have a broad range of applications, including single photon detectors, Josephson Junction Devices, High-Frequency and RF Electronics, and Superconducting Quantum Bits. However, a notable challenge in the field of superconducting electronic devices is that conventional metal superconductors can only operate at extremely low temperatures, typically only a few Kelvin. Additionally, fabricating electronic devices using …
Supercapacitors: The future of energy storage
The Challenge Thin-film supercapacitors offer a solution to the limited energy storage capacity of traditional batteries in portable electronics. They provide rapid energy discharge and recharge capabilities, which is critical for devices like smartphones and wearables. The compact nature of thin-film supercapacitors and their flexibility makes them suitable for miniaturized devices, including medical implants, IoT sensors, and small electronics where …
Listening to nanoscale earthquakes
A recent UNSW-led paper published in Nature Communications presents an exciting new way to listen to avalanches of atoms in crystals. The nanoscale movement of atoms when materials deform leads to sound emission. This so-called crackling noise is a scale-invariant phenomenon found in various material systems as a response to external stimuli such as force or external fields. Jerky material …
US-Australia condensed-matter/cold atoms colloquia series
Alex Hamilton, new Industry Laureate Fellow
Unleashing the combined power of electrons and holes for better quantum computing Congratulations to FLEET Deputy Director Prof Alex Hamilton, who has been named an Industry Laureate Fellow by the ARC. Alex and his team at UNSW receive $3.8 million towards ground-breaking silicon-based quantum-computer technology to dramatically speed up computation, enabling Australia to maintain its global lead in quantum technologies. …
Engineering a novel supersolid state using layered 2D materials
Can a solid be a superfluid? Bilayer excitons form a quantum supersolid A collaboration of Australian and European physicists predict that layered electronic 2D semiconductors can host a curious quantum phase of matter called the supersolid. The supersolid is a very counterintuitive phase indeed. It is made up of particles that simultaneously form a rigid crystal and yet at the …
FLEET represents at Quantum Australia
Written by Matt Gebert, FLEET PhD candidate, Monash University A large contingent of 14 FLEET members and alumni enjoyed the Quantum Australia conference last week, engaging in discussions about the future of quantum technologies with a lot of interest focused in quantum computing, in addition to sensing. I attended as a PhD student approaching the end of my candidacy, and …
Let it snow inside liquid metals
Liquid metals are enigmatic metallic solvents. A new UNSW-led study of metallic crystals growing in a liquid metal solvent finds similarities and differences between liquid-metal solvents and more-familiar crystal-growth environments (such as water or the atmosphere) in which snowflakes or crystals of dissolved substances form. We can dissolve a large amount of sugar in water at high temperatures. But as …
Learning to see yourself in an entrepreneur role: Sunrise Innovation Festival
FLEET PhD candidate Maedehsadat Mousavi’s has reported in following attending the Sunrise innovation festival, building on her experiences at the EQUS-FLEET Idea Factory: “Previously, I would have never considered starting my own company or launching a start-up, but now I can see myself considering this future, and how an entrepreneur can have an impact on the world.” FLEET HDR students …
Zinc batteries, cheaper safer better: FLEET Translation Program
FLEET Translation funding is progressing zinc-ion battery technology, which offers decreased costs, safety, and improved environmental outcomes. Current commercial batteries are primarily based on lithium-ion technology, which is expensive and has significant safety concerns owing to incorporation of flammable organic materials. The proposed aqueous zinc-ion battery technology boasts improved safety (no toxic or flammable components), low-cost manufacturing, and recyclability. The …
Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh and Stefan Maier top 1%
Congratulations to FLEET’s Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh and Stefan Maier, named in the top 1% by citations in their fields. The Clarivate Analytics list identifies researchers ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field. The citation identifies influential researchers as determined by their peers around the globe – those who have consistently won recognition in the form of high citation …
A new era of two-dimensional ferroelectrics
A UNSW/Flinders University paper published recently in Nature Reviews Materials presents an exciting overview of the emerging field of 2D ferroelectric materials with layered van-der-Waals crystal structures: a novel class of low-dimensional materials that is highly interesting for future nanoelectronics. Future applications include ultra-low energy electronics, high-performance, non-volatile data-storage, high-response optoelectronics, and flexible (energy-harvesting or wearable) electronics. Structurally different from …
New Chief Investigator Priyank Kumar
Congratulations to Priyank Kumar at the School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW Sydney, who becomes a new Chief Investigator within FLEET. “I look forward to contributing to the objectives of FLEET through both fundamental and translational research,” said Priyank. “I would like to thank Michael Fuhrer, Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh and the FLEET team for providing me this opportunity.” Priyank has been an …
Captivating physics and our digital society—Sydney Science Trail
More than 1000 high-school and primary students, and another 1100 members of the public were introduced to FLEET’s research and the counterintuitive world of quantum physics at Sydney Science Trail in July, in FLEET’s largest post-pandemic outreach event to date. FLEET UNSW members were among the 20+ science orgs presenting at Sydney Science Trail, based at Australian Museum as part …
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 …
Node Coordinator – FLEET at UNSW
Applications Close 22 August 2022 An opportunity exists for a research centre administrator to join the FLEET business team to assist with the planning, administration and reporting for the Centre. The successful candidate will work closely with FLEET@UNSW node leader, Prof Alex Hamilton to ensure effective administration and communication with centre members. We’re looking for someone with: Demonstrated experience in providing administrative support …
Topological superconductors: fertile ground for elusive Majorana particle
Majorana fermions promise information technology with zero resistance A new, multi-node FLEET review investigates the search for Majorana fermions in iron-based superconductors. The elusive Majorana fermion, or ‘angel particle’ proposed by Ettore Majorana in 1937, simultaneously behaves like a particle and an antiparticle – and surprisingly remains stable rather than being self-destructive. Majorana fermions promise information and communications technology with …
Liquid platinum at room temperature: The ‘cool’ catalyst for a sustainable revolution in industrial chemistry
In an Exciton Science/FLEET study, researchers have been able to use trace amounts of liquid platinum to create cheap and highly efficient chemical reactions at low temperatures, opening a pathway to dramatic emissions reductions in crucial industries. When combined with liquid gallium, the amounts of platinum required are small enough to significantly extend the earth’s reserves of this valuable metal, …
Postcard from Singapore: Life post-FLEET with Centre alumni Elizabeth Marcellina
Keep discovering and rediscovering yourself Be open to new research and life directions Hi, I am Elizabeth Marcellina, and I was previously a FLEET PhD student and then Research Fellow at UNSW with Prof Alex Hamilton and A/Prof Dimitrie Culcer. My general research directions within FLEET were to harness spin-orbit interactions in semiconductors for spintronics and spin-orbit qubits. To be …
FLEET science at the March meeting
A number of FLEET members and affiliates are attending APS March Meeting this week, online or in person. Here’s a list of talks to check out (if you have registered for the conference, catch-up links are provided on each page). Monday 14/3 Yonatan Ashlea AlavaIn situ epitaxial aluminium gates in ultra-shallow GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs heterostructures for low noise quantum point contacts Feixiang …
What’s next after graduation? UNSW careers panel
Post-grad job hunting, perfecting the resume, and how to handle pre-interview nerves An expert panel ran through issues of importance to PhD and Masters graduates at UNSW this month, answering the questions at top of mind for ECRs towards the end of study, as they prepare to start looking for graduate positions for the first time. The event was organised …
Summer students studying quantum devices at UNSW
A group of Sydney Quantum undergraduates have recently finished a summer term with Alex Hamilton’s QED group at UNSW, gaining practical experience with quantum devices as they worked alongside FLEET and QED researchers. Over the course of their six-week placement, students pursued individual projects, developing skills in device fabrication and experimental process. The UNSW Physics Quantum Electronic Devices group investigates …
Liquid metals, surface patterns, and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
“The long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.” The opening lines of the great Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms condense its complex and spectacular stories into a coherent pattern, that is, power blocs divide and unite cyclically in turbulent battle years. A good philosophy or theorem has general implications. Now, published …