Prof. Dr. Mazhar Nawaz Ali

Profile

Academic positionAssociate Professor, Senior Lecturer, Reader
Research fieldsExperimental Condensed Matter Physics,Production and Properties of Functional Materials
KeywordsDark Matter, Topological, Dirac Weyl, Condensed Matter, Electronic Devices
Honours and awards

2019: Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter - Emerging Leader 2019

2016: MINERVA ARCHES Award

2016: Sofia Kovalevskaja Award

Current contact address

CountryNetherlands
CityDelft
InstitutionDelft University of Technology
InstituteKavli Institute of NanoScience

Host during sponsorship

Prof. Dr. Stuart ParkinMax-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik, Halle (Saale)
Start of initial sponsorship01/11/2016

Programme(s)

2016Sofja Kovalevskaja Award Programme

Nominator's project description

The symmetries and topologies of materials are directly manifested in their chemical and physical properties. Thus, crystal structures with particular arrangements and coordinations of atoms can exhibit quixotic electronic structures and, consequently, exotic electronic properties. Dr. Mazhar Ali’s interests lie in this interplay between symmetries, topologies and properties. During his graduate work at Princeton University he discovered that a simple chemical compound displayed “titanic” magnetoresistance, coupled with very high mobilities. The highly unusual properties of this compound, one member of a rapidly expanding class of materials - Weyl semi-metals - makes them of potential interest for future electronic devices. During his post-doctoral stay at IBM Research, he explored thin films of these materials and, with the Sofja Kovalevskaya Award he plans to create novel “Fermitronic” devices that take advantage of the unique properties of these materials that can be readily tuned and controlled by subtly varying their electron density.