SEMINAR 2026
When phonons encounter correlated electrons and lattice disorder
| Speaker | Professor Junqiao Wu, University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| Date/Time | Thursday, 29 Jan, 4pm |
| Location | S11-02-07 Conference Room |
| Host | Prof Gong Jiangbin |
Abstract
Phonons are the fundamental heat and sound carriers in solids, and their dynamics are strongly modified by interactions with charge carriers and structural disorder. Exploring their interactions with other excitations and with lattice disorder reveals new physical phenomena and enables novel engineering principles. In this talk, I will present our recent studies of heat transport in electronic materials featuring strong electron correlations [1], isolated lattice dislocation [2], broken and reconstructed bonds [3], or atomic-mass disorder [4], highlighting how these complexities reshape phonon spectra, scattering mechanisms, and thermal conduction.
References
[1] Science, 355, 371 (2017); Phys. Rev. Lett., 129, 245701 (2022)
[2] Nature Materials, 24, 728 (2025)
[3] Nano Lett., 19, 3830 (2019); Adv. Sci., 7, 1902071 (2020).
[4] Phys. Rev. Lett., 128, 085901 (2022)
Biography
Professor Junqiao Wu is currently Chair of the Department of Materials Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and holds a joint appointment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He also serves as Chair of the Division of Materials Physics of the American Physical Society (APS).
He received his B.S. from Fudan University and his M.S. from Peking University in China, both in Physics. He earned his Ph.D. in Applied Science and Technology, an applied physics graduate program, from UC Berkeley, where he conducted research on semiconductors. He then completed postdoctoral work in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department at Harvard University. He joined UC Berkeley as a faculty member in 2006.
The Wu Group investigates the physics and applications of functional materials and semiconductors. Prof. Wu has published over 300 widely cited papers, contributing to fundamental materials science in areas such as defect physics, band engineering, phase transition, and the thermophysical behavior of electronic materials, as well as driving industrial advances in energy-efficient lighting and thermal management.
His honors include the 29th Ross N. Tucker Memorial Award, the U.S. NSF CAREER Award, the U.S. DOE Early Career Award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the White House, and the Bakar Prize. He has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and is a recipient of the John Bardeen Award from The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS).