Plenary

2024 KPS Spring Meeting   April 23-26, 2024   Daejeon Convention Center

"The Fascinating Quantum World of Atomically Thin Two-dimensional Materials"

Prof. Steven Gwon Sheng Louie

Professor of Physics, University of California at Berkeley
Senior Faculty Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Berkeley, U.S.A.

 

TIME: November 5 (Thu) 11:10-12:00


ABSTRACT:

Many fascinating phenomena in nature owe their emergence from the interactions of large number of particles. In particular, symmetry, interaction and topological effects dominate many of the quantum properties of reduced-dimensional systems. These effects often lead to manifestation of counter-intuitive concepts and phenomena that may not be so prominent or have not been seen in the bulk. In this talk, I present some fascinating quantum phenomena discovered in recent studies of atomically thin one- and two-dimensional materials. A number of interesting and unexpected behaviors have been found – e.g., strongly bound excitons (electron-hole pairs) with unusual energy level structures; tunable magnetism and plasmonic properties; novel topological phases; correlated 3- and 4-particle excitations; etc. – adding to the promise of these materials for exploration of new science and valuable applications.

 

STEVEN GWON SHENG LOUIE is a computational condensed-matter physicist. He is a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley and senior faculty scientist in the Materials Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where his research focuses on nanoscience. He is honored with numerous awards including 2019 Fellow of Materials Research Society (MRS) and 2018 Kodosky Lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Professor Louie’s research spans a broad spectrum of topics in theoretical condensed matter physics and nanoscience. He is known for his pioneering work on the ab initio GW method, which led to his resolution of the bandgap problem in semiconductors and founding of the field of first-principles study of excited-state properties of materials, and for his seminal work on surfaces and interfaces, nanostructures, and reduced-dimensional systems. He was a founding scientific director of the Molecular Foundry, a DOE national nanoscience center. He is identified by the ISI Web of Science as one of the most highly cited researchers in physics and nanoscience.

 

EDUCATION:

University of California at Berkeley, Ph.D. in Physics, 1976
University of California at Berkeley, A.B. in Physics and Mathematics, 1972

 

SCIENTIFIC CAREER:

Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, 1984-present
Founding Director, Center for Computational Study of Excited-State Phenomena in Energy Materials (C2SEPEM), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2016-present
Senior Faculty Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1993-present
Founding Scientific Director, Theory Facility, the Molecular Foundry, 2001-2011
Faculty Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1981-93
Associate Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, 1980-84
Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, 1979–80
Visiting Scientist, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, 1979
Postdoctoral Fellow, I.B.M. Watson Research Center, 1977-79
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 1976


SELECTED HONORS/AWARDS:

Fellow, Materials Research Society, 2019.
Kodosky Lecturer, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2018
H.C. Ørsted Lecturer, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark, 2017
2017 Jubilee Professorship, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, 2016
Materials Theory Award, Materials Research Society (MRS), 2015
Inaugural Simons Fellow in Theoretical Physics, Simons Foundation, 2012
Member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2009
Academician, Academia Sinica, Republic of China (Taiwan), 2008
Mork Family Distinguished Lecturer, University of Southern California, 2008
Distinguished Research Chair Professor, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, 2007-10
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2006
Closs Lecturer, University of Chicago, 2006
Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2005
Richard P. Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory), Foresight Institute, 2003
Davisson-Germer Prize in Surface Physics, American Physical Society, 1999
Aneesur Rahman Prize for Computational Physics, American Physical Society, 1996
Sustained Outstanding Research in Solid State Physics Award, U.S. Dept of Energy, 1993
Municipal Chair Professor, Joseph Fourier University, France, 1990
John S. Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, 1989-90
Eminent Visiting Scholar, University of Tokyo, 1989
Professor, Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, 1986–87, 1995
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1985
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1980–82