Discovery-Driven Search for Polar Electronic Phases

该奖项是2021财年数学和物理科学提升博士后研究奖学金（MPS-Ascend）的一部分。每项奖学金在一名赞助科学家的指导下，支持一项在接收院校进行的数学和物理科学领域的研究和培训项目，包括对其他学科的应用。这项奖学金授予Juan Chamorro博士，以支持他的研究项目“发现驱动的极地电子相搜索”。该奖学金的主办机构是加州大学圣巴巴拉分校（University of California at Santa Barbara）。Ram Seshardri和Rob wilson博士。查莫罗的项目假设是，极性电子状态，如极性金属和超导体，可能会出现在载流子掺杂的铁电体和极性绝缘体中，这取决于掺杂电子-极性声子耦合的强度。如果这种耦合很弱，就可能产生极性金属态。如果这种耦合足够强，铁电态的不稳定可能会产生超导性。这名研究员将在塞沙德里和威尔逊的共同建议下，在加州大学圣巴巴拉分校（UCSB）验证这一假设。他将利用UCSB现有的设备进行理论计算、实验和测量。这项工作还将包括与另一个小组合作，对极性电子候选材料进行光学实验。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is made as part of the FY 2021 Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (MPS-Ascend). Each fellowship supports a research and training project at a host institution in the mathematical and physical sciences, including applications to other disciplines, under the mentorship of a sponsoring scientist. This fellowship to Dr. Juan Chamorro supports his research project entitled “Discovery-Driven Search for Polar Electronic Phases.” The host institution for the fellowship is the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Ram Seshardri and Rob Wilson.Dr. Chamorro’s project hypothesis is that polar electronic states, such as polar metals and superconductors, can potentially arise in carrier-doped ferroelectric and polar insulators depending on the strength of the doped electron-polar phonon coupling. If this coupling is weak, a polar metal state may arise. If this coupling is sufficiently strong, the destabilization of the ferroelectric state may give rise to superconductivity. The fellow will be co-advised by Seshadri and Wilson to test this hypothesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He will perform theoretical calculations, experiments, and measurements using the facilities available at UCSB. The work will also include collaboration with another group to perform optical experiments on polar electronic material candidates.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.