Graduate Seminar 1
The Magic of Moiré Quantum Matter
| Speaker | Distinguished visitor Prof Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Date/Time | Thursday, 10 Jul, 11AM |
| Location | Lecture Theatre 31 |
| Moderator | Prof Barbaros Özyilmaz |
Abstract
The understanding of strongly-interacting quantum matter has challenged physicists for decades. The discovery seven years ago of correlated phases and superconductivity in magic angle twisted bilayer graphene has led to the emergence of a new materials platform to investigate strongly interacting physics, namely moiré quantum matter. These systems exhibit a plethora of quantum phases, such as correlated insulators, superconductivity, magnetism, ferroelectricity, and more. In this talk I will review some of the recent advances in the field, focusing on the newest generation of moiré quantum systems, where correlated physics, superconductivity, and other fascinating phases can be studied with unprecedented tunability. I will end the talk with an outlook of some exciting directions in this emerging field.
Biography
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero is currently Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at MIT. He received his “Licenciatura” in physics from the University of Valencia, Spain, in 1999, and his PhD in physics from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands in 2005. After his postdoc at Columbia University, he joined MIT as an assistant professor of physics in January 2008 and received tenure in 2015. He was promoted to Full Professor of Physics in 2018.
Prof. Jarillo-Herrero is the recipient of the APS 2020 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize, the 2020 Wolf Prize in Physics, the 2020 Medal of the Spanish Royal Physics Society, the 2021 Lise Meitner Distinguished Lecture and Medal, the 2021 Max Planck Humboldt Research Award, the 2021 US National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Discovery, the 2022 Dan Maydan Prize in Nanoscience Research, and the 2023 Ramon y Cajal Medal from the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences (2022), the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences (2023), and the European Academy of Sciences (2025).
Professor Jarillo-Herrero’s research interests lie in the area of experimental condensed matter physics.