Thermal Transport - S. N. Guin

 The solid-state and materials science contributed enormously from the basic understanding of structure-property to many technology-related areas. The discovery of new promising materials demands the combined input of theoretical guidance, keen chemical intuition, synthetic chemistry expertise, materials processing, and good measurement skills. The topological quantum materials-the new quantum state of matter has drawn the large attention in solid state research. The recent discovery of the magnetic topological materials created a new frontier. The observation of anomalous electrical and thermal transport behaviour in such materials makes them ideal platform for realization many interesting transport phenomena. In this group, we are involved to explore the anomalous thermal transport and Nernst effect of topological quantum materials. In contrast to anomalous Hall effect, the anomalous Nernst effect is determined by the Berry curvature near the Fermi level rather than the integration of Berry curvature occupied bands. Thus, investigations of Nernst effect can be a powerful tool to map the Berry curvature near the Fermi level in a topological material.

The global need for clean, abundant and renewable energy has attracted much attention to the alternative energy sources. The advantages such as the absence of moving parts and noise make the thermoelectric technology promising for energy conversion and solid-state cooling. Traditionally the progress of the field largely relies on the Seebeck effect, i.e., the generation of an electrical voltage longitudinal to a temperature gradient. However, the configurations based on the Nernst effect, which is a thermomagnetic effect --- the generation of a transverse electrical signal in a magnetic field, has been significantly less studied. In this context, studies on the anomalous Nernst effect of the magnetic topological materials provide a new direction since high signal can be achieve at low field. The aim of the group is design and development of new magnetic topological quantum materials, synthesis of single crystals and understanding the effect of topological state in the thermal transport and Nernst effect.