Our research combines theory and computation to study the dynamics of electrons in materials from first principles. Using these methods, we investigate electrons in materials with near-atomic length and femtosecond time resolutions, providing microscopic insight beyond the reach of experiment into the motion of electrons, their spin, and their coupling to atomic vibrations and defects in materials. One main goal of our research is advancing fundamental understanding of electron transport, ultrafast dynamics and light-matter interactions in materials. Another goal is using the unique microscopic insight provided by our calculations to advance applications in electronics, optoelectronics, energy and quantum technologies, as well as simulating and advancing the interpretation of novel ultrafast spectroscopies.
Recent News
- Hsiao-Yi wins Caltech's Demetriades-Tsafka-Kokkalis Prize for best PhD thesis in Nanotechnology. 6-2-21
- Marco has been promoted to Full Professor. Congratulations! 6-1-21
- Marco's CIQM seminar at Harvard on "Novel computational tools for electron dynamics in quantum materials" is available on YouTube. 5-1-21
- Caltech news features a story on our Perturbo code. 4-1-21
- Marco receives the ISSNAF "Franco Strazzabosco" Young Investigator Award for Research in Engineering. 12-1-20
- We hold the second virtual workshop of our PERTURBO code with over 120 participants. 11-18-20
- We hold the first virtual workshop of our PERTURBO code with over 50 participants. 10-15-20
- Marco's talk at the ICTP workshop on ultrafast charge dynamics in semiconductors is available on YouTube. 9-30-20
- Our papers on piezoelectric electron-phonon interaction and first-principles exciton-phonon calculations are both published in Physical Review Letters. 9-15-20
- Hsiao-Yi Chen receives the prestigious J. Yang Fellowship from the J. Yang & Family Foundation. Congratulations! 5-5-20
- Marco and Jin-Jian were to give invited talks at the 2020 APS March Meeting. Slides of their talks are available on the APS website (links: Marco's talk on ultrafast dynamics , Jin-Jian's talk on charge transport in oxides ) 4-1-20
- Our PERTURBO code is available for download.
PERTURBO computes electron-phonon interactions, charge transport, and ultrafast carrier dynamics. It is efficient, parallelized, and carefully tested. Its workflows are intuitive and user friendly.
The paper accompanying PERTURBO is available on arXiv. 2-6-20 - Ivan Maliyov joins the group as a new postdoc. 1-1-20
- Caltech features our recent work on transport in strontium titanate beyond the quasiparticle regime and breaking the Planckian limit. 12-9-19
- Marco wins an Emerging Young Investigator Award at the 4th Functional Oxide Thin Films for Advanced Energy and Information Technology Conference in Portugal. 7-20-19
Recent Publications
- Ab Initio Electron-Phonon Interactions
in Correlated Electron Systems
(Submitted). arxiv 2102.06840 - Facile Ab Initio Approach for Self-Localized
Polarons from Canonical Transformations.
Physical Review Materials 2021 (Accepted).
Preprint: arxiv 2011.03620 - Radiative Properties of Quantum Emitters in Boron Nitride
from Excited State Calculations and Bayesian Analysis.
npj Computational Materials 2021 7, 85. - Toward Precise Simulations of the Coupled Ultrafast Dynamics
of Electrons and Atomic Vibrations in Materials.
Physical Review Research 2021 3, 023072. - Magnetotransport in Semiconductors and
Two-Dimensional Materials from First Principles.
Physical Review B (Letter) 2021 103, L161103 (Editor's suggestion). - PERTURBO: A Software Package for Ab Initio Electron-Phonon
Interactions, Charge Transport and Ultrafast Dynamics.
Comput. Phys. Commun. 2021 264, 107970. - Piezoelectric Electron-Phonon Interaction from Ab Initio Dynamical Quadrupoles:
Impact on Charge Transport in GaN.
Physical Review Letters 2020 125, 136602 - Long-Range Quadrupole Electron-Phonon
Interaction from First Principles.
Physical Review B 2020 102, 125203 - Exciton-Phonon Interaction and Relaxation Times
from First Principles.
Physical Review Letters 2020 125, 107401