Seminar

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Elings Hall, Room 1601

Speaker

Juan Chamorro

UC Santa Barbara

Bio

Juan R. Chamorro joined UCSB in 2021 after completing his PhD in chemistry at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, under Prof. Tyrel McQueen. His graduate work focused on the chemistry of quantum materials including topological semimetals, quantum spin liquids, and superconductors. He is part of the inaugural class of NSF MPS-Ascend Postdoctoral Fellows, and performs research under Profs. Stephen Wilson and Ram Seshadri. At UCSB, his work focuses on studying materials with electronic, magnetic, and structural instabilities at tangible energy scales, with the ultimate goal of identifying non-trivial quantum ground states. 

Abstract

Materials with geometrically frustrated lattices can be hosts to exotic topological ground states such as the quantum spin liquid, as well as other interesting and emerging electronic phases. Understanding the bonding and chemistry of these materials is critical to predicting their properties and uses. In this talk, I will present on our recent work on the ‘133’ family of materials with a general formula RECd₃P₃, where RE = La – Nd, which contains a frustrated triangular lattice of RE³⁺ cations. These materials possess structural elements prone to distortions, but due to structural frustration, these distortions manifest in subtle ways. I will present our work so far on these materials, and discuss future directions.