Abstract:
Polarons are composite quasiparticles consisting of an excess electrons or holes surrounded by local lattice distortions. This distortion is induced by anti-adiabatic displacements of adjacent ions, as a consequence of strong electron-phonon coupling. Polarons play crucial roles in numerous physicochemical processes. They influence charge transport, superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, surface reactivity, catalytic activity, as well as thermoelectric and multiferroic functionality. Traditionally, polarons have been investigated using ensemble-averaged techniques. Studying single polarons at atomic scale is desirable to unveil the correlated electron-phonon mechanism of the polaron formation, but remains elusive. In this talk, we present a series of our research on the discovery and manipulation of individual polarons in monolayer atomic and molecular crystals. Our work covers single polarons and multipolarons in transition-metal halides, van der Waals polarons in Sb₂O₃, and Jahn-Teller polarons in a double - decker molecular magnet. We also employ polaron manipulation to uncover new correlated states, which include a Hubbard-type Coulomb blockade effect and a phason-polaron effect in one-dimensional nanowires. Our study opens up a new avenue for the study of polarons, and is expected to spur the harnessing of polarons to tailor various physicochemical processes.
Biography:
Ying-Shuang Fu is a physics professor affiliated with Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He earned his Ph.D. from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2008. From 2008 to 2014, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Hamburg University and RIKEN, respectively. Since 2014, he has been a professor in the School of Physics and at the Wuhan High Field Magnet Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He has focused on the study of correlated states in low-dimensional quantum systems using molecular beam epitaxy and spectroscopic imaging scanning tunneling microscopy under ultralow-temperature and high-magnetic-field conditions. In the past five years, he has published 32 papers as a corresponding author, including 1 in Phys. Rev. X, 5 in Nat. Commun., 4 in JACS, 1 in Natl. Sci. Rev., 3 in Adv. Mater., etc. He is in charge of several prestigious funds, including the Key Research Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and 2 Key Research and Development Programs of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Date & Time: 10:00-11:30 April 3 (Thursday), 2025
Venue: TDLI Meeting Room N601
Tencent Meeting link:
https://meeting.tencent.com/dm/QNMwAuKRANpR Meeting ID: 521736431, no password