Berthold Jaeck

  • Innovation Award in 2022 at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

About Dr Berthold Jaeck’s work

Dr Berthold Jaeck is an experimental condensed matter physicist investigating correlated and topological electronic phases arising in low-dimensional quantum materials, for which he combines materials fabrication with scanning tunnelling microscopy measurements. Dr Jaeck also pursues the development of experimental instrumentation and novel microscopy techniques for advancing the study of quantum materials.

Progress in materials synthesis and theoretical modelling is allowing us to design and realise materials guided by the rules of quantum mechanics. Tuning the complex interplay of electronic interactions, spin-spin correlations, and geometric phases of wave functions at microscopic length scales, we can endow materials with new macroscopic quantum properties. Such properties include fractionalised quantum excitations and new forms of superconductivity that promise technological applications in topological quantum computation and energy-efficient electronic devices. Hence, quantum material research directly answers to the growing demand in computational power and energy of our societies.

For these promises to become true, new quantum materials must be explored, and a comprehensive understanding of their microscopic and macroscopic quantum degrees of freedom must be developed. The potential future use of quantum phenomena in technological applications also demands materials with low defect density as well as the use of scalable preparation methods that allow the fabrication of electronic devices.

Dr Jaeck’s research addresses these challenges by closely joining materials and device fabrication with studies of their microscopic and macroscopic quantum degrees of freedom. To this end, he combines molecular beam epitaxy with scanning tunnelling microscopy and electron transport experiments. Positioned at the interface of condensed matter physics and materials science, his approach promotes the development of exotic quantum materials and accelerates their integration in the technological applications of tomorrow.

Biography

Dr Berthold Jaeck is an ​​Assistant Professor of Physics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the IAS HKUST Center for Quantum Technologies. He previously was a postdoctoral fellow of the Humboldt Foundation in the Department of Physics at Princeton University. He earned a DSc in Physics from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Dr Jaeck studied applied physics at Würzburg University and UC Berkeley and he was an undergraduate fellow of the German Academic Exchange Association. He holds a diploma in nanotechnology with distinction from Würzburg University.