Metallic conductivity and broken inversion symmetry were long thought to be contraindicated properties, under the assumption that long-range Coulombic interactions (screened by free charge carriers) were necessary for coordinated polar displacements. Within the past decade, the discovery of polar metals has prompted a rethinking of the relationship between metallicity and...
This thesis describes the synthesis and photophysical characterization of low-dimensionalmaterials—including thin-film semiconductors, colloidal quantum dots, and molecules—with the
broader motivation of integrating them into mixed-dimensional heterostructures with novel
responses to external stimuli. Due to their high surface area to volume ratio and incomplete
dielectric screening, mixed-dimensional heterostructures have high sensitivity...
Due to the unprecedented sensitivity of the Advanced LIGO--Virgo network, in less than ~5 years the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics has evolved from speculating about the properties of compact binary mergers to having an observed population that facilitates astrophysical inference. These observations encode information about their progenitor stellar systems ---...
The three-dimensional (3D) nanoscale structure of III-As nanowires is correlated with optical and electronic property measurements to deconvolve the contributions of strain, composition, and crystal structure to characteristics of interest for future electronic and optoelectronic devices. Multiple advanced two-dimensional (2D) and 3D characterization techniques are employed such as atom probe...
I present the body of work I have pursued over the course of my doctoral study at Northwestern University. First, I conduct an analysis of the measurement abilities of distinctive LISA detector designs, examining the influence of LISA's low-frequency performance on the detection and characterization of massive black hole binaries....
In 2018, our ATRAP collaboration produced 5 trapped antihydrogen atoms per hour long trial. An apparatus with a Ioffe octupole trap and a faster magnet dump was used to confine and detect trapped antihydrogen atoms. This apparatus is unique in that four sideports spaced at 90 degrees from each other...
The presented thesis introduces our work of extending high-resolution x-ray 3D imaging towards extended samples. With the advent of x-ray sources with higher brightness and better coherence, as well as the rise of the needs to examine the fine structures of large objects in the field of materials science, biology,...
How molecular chirality manifests at the nano- to macroscale has been a scientific puzzle since Louis Pasteur discovered biochirality. In general, amphiphilic molecules can organize into a variety of assembly shapes including micelles, spherical vesicles, cylindrical micelles, and planar bilayers. However, when such amphiphilic molecules are chiral, helical ribbons, helicoidal...
Light is a powerful tool for manipulating and probing magnetic states in solid state systems. In particular, optically-induced spin orientation, the ability to orient spin with polarized light, has been extensively utilized in low-dimensional III-V and II-VI semiconductors to pioneer spintronic research. Even though traditional semiconductors have found a wide...
As polymer science has advanced as a field, so too have the uses for polymeric materials. We encounter polymers and plastics on a daily basis, and while their presence has greatly improved our quality of life, they have also had a profound and often negative impact on our environment. Plastic...