Suchitra Sebastian

Suchitra Sebastian is a condensed matter physicist at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. She is known for her work in quantum materials. In particular, she is known for the discovery of insulating materials which display simultaneous conduction-like behaviour under high magnetic fields. The World Economic Forum named her one of thirty Exceptional Young Scientists in 2013.[3]

Suchitra Sebastian
CitizenshipIndian
Alma materStanford University
Known forDual insulating and conduction-like behaviour of samarium hexaboride
AwardsLeverhulme Prize (2015)
L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science (2013)
Scientific career
FieldsCondensed matter physics
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge
ThesisBose-Einstein Condensation in Spin Dimer Compounds[1]
Doctoral advisorIan Fisher
InfluencesGil Lonzarich[2]

Biography

Suchitra Sebastian obtained an undergraduate degree in physics from the Women's Christian College, Chennai. She attended the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, where she received an MBA.[4] She received a PhD in applied physics from Stanford University.[1]

Sebastian has been active in theatre. She performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a member of the Two Shades of Blue theatre troupe,[4] and toured India and Nepal with the Rickshaw Theatre Project.

Career

After her MBA degree, Sebastian worked as a management consultant for a few years. She then decided to pursue physics as a career, and joined Stanford University for doctoral studies.[4]

Suchitra Sebastian's doctoral research was into barium copper silicate's transformation from a non-magnetic into a magnetic insulator under high magnetic field and low temperature. She discovered that the point of phase transition, the quantum critical point, occurs when the electrons' behaviour becomes two-dimensional, with the third dimension having almost no effect. In 2006, she co-published a paper revealing these findings. When the silicate is in its insulating state, the electron spins cancel each other out, but in the magnetic phase, under strong magnetic fields and low temperatures, the electrons form a Bose-Einstein condensate, with the electron spins suddenly unified. At the critical point, the spins from parallel layers stop affecting each other, and the magnetic waves stay within the plane of each layer, propagating in two dimensions. Sebastian's experiment was the first exploration of the immediate neighbourhood of the critical point in Bose-Einstein condensates.[5]

In 2015, Sebastian received a five-year grant from the European Research Council to work with cuprates to determine why they behave as high temperature superconductors.[6] This entailed the suppression superconductivity under strong magnetic fields, and the examination of their resistive state. This revealed that electrons were forming twisted pockets in the weakest areas of superconductivity, in contrast to other researchers' finding that pockets formed in strong superconductive regions. She also discovered that the waves formed by alignment of electrons by their charge, called charge ordering, produce the pockets that are involved in the substance's superconductivity.[7]

In 2015, Sebastian and her team discovered that samarium hexaboride, an insulator at low temperatures, displays simultaneous conduction-like properties under strong magnetic fields. Samarium hexaboride also belongs to the class of topological insulators, which are insulators within their bulk but conductive on their surface. Sebastian found that samarium hexaboride acts as a simultaneous conductor and insulator within its bulk.[8]

Awards

Selected works
  • Sebastian, Suchitra (10 July 2015). "How we discovered 'impossible' material that both conducts electricity – and doesn't". The Conversation.

Technical articles

References
  1. "Sebastian, Suchitra". Department of Applied Physics. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  2. Gibney, Elizabeth (27 September 2017). "A quantum pioneer unlocks matter's hidden secrets". Nature.
  3. Baker, Monya (31 December 2014). "Hopes for the year ahead". Nature. 517 (7532): 111–3. doi:10.1038/nj7532-111a. PMID 25568916.
  4. Spratt, Radha (21 September 2013). "The thrill of discovery". The Hindu. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  5. Levy, Dawn (2 June 2006). "3-D insulator called Han Purple loses a dimension to enter magnetic 'Flatland'". Stanford Report. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  6. "In search of the superconductor Holy Grail". Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine. 23 October 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  7. Lewis, Tanya (24 June 2014). "Making Headway in Search for Zero-Resistance Wonder Materials". Live Science. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  8. Borghino, Dario (7 July 2015). "Puzzling material acts as conductor and insulator at the same time". New Atlas. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  9. "2012 Moseley medal and prize". Institute of Physics. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  10. "Philip Leverhulme Prizes 2015" (PDF). The Leverhulme Trust. p. 3. Retrieved 7 October 2017.

Further reading
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