2020 Prize Winner - Jesse Vaitkus

 Congratulations to Jesse. Another outstanding recipient.

Please watch Jesse’s comments on being awarded the 2020 Ian Snook Physics Prize.

Video link: 

 https://share.sendspark.com/view/sdrqw0kmecse1l7i

Jesse's research has focused on modelling quantum transport at the meso- and nano- scales. At these length scales quantum effects begin to dominate and (semi-)classical models of transport break down. With the recent advent of interesting two-dimensional materials, research into these novel materials has boomed. Due to the large number of combinations thereof, these new devices require comprehensive, accurate, efficient, and expedient methods of simulation and this was one of the main focuses of his work. Using the Non-Equilibrium Green's Function (NEGF) method, Jesse explored multiple topics in this field, including: novel Finite Difference stencils for a new class of system; a hybrid technique for efficient evaluation of non-equilibrium density matrices and their derivatives; a new method for simulating dissipation using Büttiker probes demonstrated by a phonon model in graphene nanoribbons; transport using the quantum spin-hall insulator model of Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang in the presence of polarized magnetic defects demonstrating novel effects.

During his candidature he wrote two first author publications, was a contributing author on three others, and as of writing this has two more in preparation.

Publication Summary:

1. Jesse A. Vaitkus, M J Steel, and Andrew D. Greentree, “Digital waveguide adiabatic passage part 1: theory,” Opt. Express, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 5466-5479, 2017

 2. Vincent Ng, Jesse A. Vaitkus, Zachary J. Chaboyer, Thach Nguyen, Judith M. Dawes, Michael J. Withford, Andrew D. Greentree, and M J Steel, “Digital waveguide adiabatic passage part 2: experiment,” Opt. Express, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 2552-2559, 2017

 3. Jesse A. Vaitkus and Jared H. Cole, “Büttiker probes andthe Recursive Green’s Function; an efficient approach to include dissipation in general configurations,” Phys. Rev. B, vol. 97, no. 8, pp. 085149, 2018

 4. Mykhailo V. Klymenko, Jesse A. Vaitkus, and Jared H. Cole, “Probing charge carrier movement in organic semiconductor thin films via nanowire conductance spectroscopy,” ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. vol. 1, no. 8, pp. 1667-1677, 2019

 5. Martin J. Cyster, Jackson S. Smith, Jesse A. Vaitkus, Nicolas Vogt, Salvy P. Russo, and Jared H. Cole, “Effect of atomic structure on the electrical response of aluminum oxide tunnel junctions,” Phys. Rev. Res. vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 013110, 2020