Summary
- Research Fellow, Yeshiva University (2017-2019)
- Research Scientist and Postdoctoral Associate, University of California, Riverside (2011-2017)
- Postdoctoral Fellow, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (2008-2011)
Research Interests
Our research goal is to develop theories and models to understand topological and correlated states of matter, present in novel functional quantum materials. While single electron devices are sensitive to fluctuations and disorder, topologically and conventionally ordered states, which are composed of a collection of electrons are more robust these effects. These topological states are characterized by winding numbers of the electron wavefunctions defined on compact surfaces, such as spheres or tori, in real or momentum space. They hold tremendous promise for applications. Quantum materials hosting topological states can be simultaneously insulating and metallic. In these systems, the electronic dispersion is gapped in the bulk, however, gapless excitations exist at the sample edges. Some examples of these topological excitations are one-dimensional dissipation-less edge modes in Chern insulators, non-Abelian quasiparticles in topological superconductors and non-trivial spin textures, such as Skyrmions in quantum magnets. These states can be engineered in device hetero-structures of recently discovered novel functional materials like topological insulators, 2D crystals, ferromagnets and superconductors. Such quantum materials can be harnessed for low-power electronics, fault-tolerant quantum computation, and as quantum memory devices.
Our goal is to investigate both the applied and fundamental aspects of quantum materials. Clearly, a fundamental understanding of topological and correlated states is important. The fundamental aspects of our research focus on developing analytical and numerical models to understand the physics and search for novel hetero-structures hosting topological states. On the applied side, it is important to figure out metrics, device architectures and establish benchmarks for future applications.
Publications
- Y. Eisenberg, Y. Barlas, and E. Prodan, Valley Chern Effect with LC Resonators: A Modular Platform, Phys. Rev. Applied, 11, 044077 (2019) (Editor's Suggestion).
- Petr Stepanov, Y. Barlas, S. Che, K. Myhro, G. Voigt, Z. Pi, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, D. Smirnov, F. Zhang, R. Lake, A. H. MacDonald, C. N. Lau, Quantum Parity Hall effect in ABA Graphene, PNAS, 116, 10286 (2019).
- Yafis Barlas and E. Prodan, Topological classification table implemented with classical passive meta-materials, Phys. Rev. B 98, 094310 (2018).
- Yafis Barlas, Counter-propagating Fractional Hall states in mirror-symmetric Dirac semi-metals, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 066602 (2018).
- P. Stepanov, S. Che, D. Shcherbakov, J. Yang, K. Thilahar, G. Voigt, M. W. Bockrath, D. Smirnov, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, R. K. Lake, Yafis Barlas, Allan H. MacDonald, Chun Ning Lau, Long-distance spin transport through a graphene quantum Hall antiferromagnet, Nature Phys. 14, 967 (2018) (Corresponding Author).
Education
- Ph.D. Physics, 2008, University of Texas - Austin
- B.S. Mathematics, 2002, University of Houston
- B.S. Physics, 2002, University of Houston