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SUMMARY:MARVEL Distinguished Lecture - Silvia Picozzi
DTSTART:20201215T150000
DTEND:20201215T161500
DTSTAMP:20260408T082602Z
UID:389ec31f5227abb59acf2f4752e7ee8b3fa316326dced9eb55de603b
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Silvia Picozzi\, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CN
 R) at the Institute for Superconducting and Innovative materials and Devic
 es (SPIN)\, Chieti\, Italy\n  https://epfl.zoom.us/j/84498617939\n  Pas
 scode: 2618\n\nProf. Silvia Picozzi\nDirector of Research at Consiglio Naz
 ionale delle Ricerche (CNR) at the Institute for Superconducting and Innov
 ative materials and Devices (SPIN)\, Chieti\, Italy\n\nSpin-orbit coupling
 : a small interaction leading to rich physics\nDuring the last decade\, th
 e spin-orbit interaction has played an increasingly crucial role in conden
 sed matter physics\, thanks to its relevance as a rich microscopic mechani
 sm from the fundamental point of view and as a driving force for innovativ
 e spintronic applications on the technological side. After a general overv
 iew on spin-orbit coupling (SOC)\, I will discuss two non-trivial aspects 
 where this relativistic interaction gives rise to novel and exotic phenome
 na. First\, I will focus on the modelling of (non-magnetic) ferroelectric 
 semiconductors\, where SOC leads to a tight link between Rashba spin-split
 ting\, spin-texture and electric polarization\, with the appealing perspec
 tive of electric-field control of spin-degrees of freedom and long-sought 
 integration of spintronics with ferroelectricity. Second\, I will discuss 
 first-principles results for the monolayer of semiconducting NiI2\, where 
 a spontaneous antiskyrmion lattice with unique topology and chirality of t
 he spin structure is driven by SOC-induced anisotropic exchange coupling. 
 The latter is therefore put forward as a novel\, alternative and robust me
 chanism that can give rise to topologically non-trivial spin configuration
 s even in centrosymmetric systems.\n\nAbout the speaker\nSilvia Picozzi re
 ceived her BSc in Physics at Univ. L’Aquila\, Italy (1994) and her PhD i
 n Materials Science from Univ. Camerino\, Italy (1998). She is currently D
 irector of Research at Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR\, public re
 search institution) at the Institute for Superconducting and Innovative ma
 terials and Devices (SPIN) in Chieti (Italy). Since 2008\, she is the coor
 dinator of a small scientific group. Her activity is related to materials 
 modeling (mostly simulations based on density functional theory\, but also
  symmetry analysis and model Hamiltonian) in the field of functional mater
 ials (such as ferroelectrics\, (anti)-ferromagnets)\, multiferroics) and m
 aterials with strong spin-orbit interaction (i.e. Rashba-Dresselhaus effec
 ts\, topological matter).\n\n 
LOCATION:Zoom
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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