Seminars

Upcoming Seminars

Creating atomic superlattices by chemically functionalizing low-dimensional materials

Tamar Mentzel : University of California, Riverside, Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Physics.

Monday, July 13, 2026, 12:14 AM

📍 Location: Room 0M04 - Department of Physics - Federico II

Abstract: Nanomaterials’ reduced dimensionality leads to enhanced quantum effects and increased charge correlations, making them an exciting platform for exploring novel quantum phenomena with application in quantum information processing and quantum computation. Moreover, the tunability of nanomaterials holds promise for achieving quantum properties ‘on demand,’ or a quantum simulator. Our research draws on chemical methods to functionalize the surfaces of and thereby tune low-dimensional materials. In this talk, I will present our work on two distinct systems: semiconductor nanocrystals and atomically thin, two-dimensional materials. First, I will discuss our nano-patterning technique to create a nanocrystal, or “artificial atom,” superlattice that is free of structural defects. We isolate the charge dynamics in a single conductance channel of the superlattice, providing insight into the charge transport mechanism that was dominated by disorder in prior instances of nanocrystal solids. We find indications of long-range Coulomb interactions, which are a precursor to the predicted geometric charge frustration in semiconductor nanocrystal superlattices. Second, I will present our low-temperature, chemical method for adding atom superlattices in the van der Waals gap of two-dimensional materials. This technique is flexible to a wide variety of elements at concentrations as high as 60%. I will present our progress intercalating Fe3GeTe2, Bi2Se3, and ZrTe3. The latter two are motivated by the interplay of charge density waves and superconductivity.

Bio: Tamar Mentzel is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Riverside in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Physics. Her research focuses on expanding the capabilities of low-dimensional quantum materials through chemical functionalization. She holds patents for optoelectronic devices made of semiconductor nanocrystals and for a technique for measuring electrical conductance in extremely resistive materials. Tamar earned her BS in physics and mechanical engineering from Yale University where she was awarded the Deforest Pioneers Prize for distinguished creative achievement in physics. She then earned her Ph.D. in applied physics from Harvard University and delivered the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratory Prized Annual Doctoral Dissertation Seminar. She was then an APS Blewett Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University. She is a recipient of the Hellman Fellowship for junior faculty at the University of California.