The group works on experimental quantum materials research. Materials with strong correlations are especially interesting, but there are plenty of interesting open problems in weakly correlated materials as well! Of late, various kinds of two-dimensional materials and heterostructures (very popular at Columbia) are a big chunk of the research conducted in the group. Scanning probe microscopy is a major experimental tool, with the group building and operating several scanning tunneling microscopes. The group also fabricates samples of various 2D materials, and performs transport measurements. An important aspect of research in the group is collaboration with other groups on campus who share the same interests. Students and postdocs almost always will find themselves in collaborative work, which (hopefully) is fun for all.
While STM and related techniques along with transport are the bread and butter work in the group, we hope to explore new developments in experimental condensed matter in the coming years. This includes integrating scan probes with light of various sorts, developing new probes for spatially resolved transport measurements, etc. Hopefully in the coming years we can explore some of these ideas with collaborators.