Dmytro Bozhko, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Energy Science, has been awarded an impressive Department of Energy (DOE) research grant through the Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research (FAIR) initiative. The initiative is meant to increase research capacity at historically underrepresented institutions.
The three-year DE-SC0024400 grant is for Bozhko’s work entitled Quantum States in Antiferromagnets: Bose-Einstein condensation of anti-ferro-magnons.
“When people hear about quantum effects, they generally think of effects manifesting themselves on an atomic scales,” explained Bozhko. “A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a specific state of matter where an ensemble of particles with integer spin starts to behave like one big macroscopic particle. For that reason, a BEC is often called a macroscopic quantum state. Since its experimental discovery in 1995, BEC has become a hot topic in physics and had its first applications for quantum computing noise reduction. Except for a few cases, to achieve BEC, one needs extremely low temperatures of about one millionth part of a degree warmer than absolute zero. However, in magnetic systems we can routinely achieve BEC at room temperature. Recently, antiferromagnetic materials have attracted remarkable interest from the scientific community due to their unique properties – high operating frequencies up to terahertz (a thousand times higher than Wi-Fi frequency) combined with significantly suppressed stray fields, which could allow for miniaturization of electronic high-frequency components. One of our main goals is to study the properties of antiferromagnets and achieve BEC up to ambient temperature in these materials.”
Bozhko, who is also chair of both the IEEE Magnetics Society Pikes Peak Chapter and IEEE Magnetics Society Young Professionals, hopes to see this research build more capacity at UCCS for exploring the quantum properties of magnetic systems and the quantum workforce in general.
“This award is the first milestone in creating a quantum physics program at UCCS,” said Bozhko. “This award will significantly enhance collaborative work between experimental groups within the Department of Physics and Energy Science as well as our external collaborations with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and this new opportunity provides an exceptional education and research experience for our growing STEM workforce in Colorado Springs and beyond.”
“I would like to acknowledge the Department of Energy for funding this research, and to thank my co-PIs team – Professor Zbigniew Celinski, Ph.D., and Valentine Novosad, Ph.D., of ANL,” added Bozhko. “Without them, this research would not have been possible.”
The $37 million grant is distributed between 44 institutions, specifically Minority Serving Institutions and Emerging Research Institutions, for 52 research projects selected by competitive scientific peer review under the DOE FAIR Funding Opportunity Announcement. Learn more about the grant online.
About the Prof. Bozhko’s Microwave Magnonics Group
The Microwave Magnonics Group at UCCS is an experimental physics group dedicated to studying magnetism and magnetic systems, focusing on both fundamental research and practical applications. Active research directions include magnon gases and condensates, nonlinear phenomena, antiferromagnetic materials, quantum magnonics, neuromorphic computing, and public outreach to popularize STEM education. Learn more about the Microwave Magnonics Group.
About the UCCS Department of Physics and Energy Science
The Department of Physics and Energy Science at UCCS is devoted to excellence in both teaching and research. The department offers bachelor, master, as well as doctoral degree options. The department conducts a broad range of experimental and theoretical research in the areas of Solid State and Quantum Physics, Magnetism, Nanotechnology, Liquid Crystals, and Bio-Physics. Physics students have a unique opportunity to access state-of-the-art research labs with over $6 million worth of equipment. Learn more about the Department of Physics and Energy Science at UCCS.
About the UCCS College of Letters, Arts & Sciences
The College of Letters, Arts & Sciences at UCCS is the university’s largest college, enrolling nearly 6,000 students across 21 departments and programs. The college offers 19 majors and 53 minors in the arts, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Students can also choose from five accelerated bachelor’s and master’s degrees, nine full master’s degrees and three Ph.D. degrees, as well as pre-medical and pre-law programs. The mission of the college is to position graduates for success in their personal and professional lives, with a focus on thinking, creating and communicating — skills vital to employers and graduate and professional schools. Learn more about the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences at UCCS.