Quantum Science and Engineering Seminar - Jennifer Coulter

New Frontiers in Electrical, Thermal, and Thermoelectric Transport Predictions

While modern first-principles methods can accurately describe the electrical, thermal, and thermoelectric transport properties of many traditional materials, computational challenges limit our capability to study quantum materials, which exhibit technologically desirable and poorly understood transport phenomena. In this talk, I will present advances towards a more powerful framework for transport predictions. Beginning from an overview of current computational techniques using the Boltzmann transport equation, I will highlight recent developments which enable the study of device-relevant quantum materials. These include hydrodynamic materials, where heat and charge transport occur essentially unimpeded except for at the boundaries of a device, and topological flat-band materials for thermoelectric applications, in which beyond-semiclassical effects define transport. I will close with an outlook on strongly correlated electron systems, which manifest exotic and often unexplained transport physics and where new methods to predict electron-phonon interactions are required to accurately study charge transport.

For more information:
Contacts: Giulia Galli | gagalli@uchicago.edu
Admin: Vanessa Fortenberry | vanessaf@uchicago.edu