Jean Joseph Heremans
Associate Professor
Virginia Tech  ,   Department of Physics
Robeson Hall, Room 321
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Tel: 540-231-4604    Fax: 540-231-7511    Email: heremans@vt.edu
Ph.D.: Princeton University, 1994
Teaching
Fall 2008: graduate Solid State Physics, part 1

Research in the Quantum Transport Lab
Experimental mesoscopic condensed matter physics: electronic, spin-dependent and magnetic properties at the nanoscale

• quantum nanoscience with spins: spintronics and quantum information processing in low-dimensional semiconductor systems under strong spin-orbit coupling
• electronic transport in molecular systems and organic semiconductors
• magnetic sensor geometries on high-mobility semiconductors
• nanoscale fabrication techniques

We use two-dimensional electron systems in InAs/AlGaSb and InSb/InAlSb, and thin film InSb, to study spin physics and spintronics under strong spin-orbit coupling in mesoscopic geometries. Example projects are: spin-resolved magnetic focusing, the effect of spin on quantum interference, and spin-dependent reflection. Apart from quantum information processing, InSb and InAs have applications in magnetic sensing due to their high mobility. We also perform experiments on electronic properties of molecular species and organic semiconductors. The lab is equipped with measurement cryostats (helium-three, and variable temperature, magnetic fields to ~10 T), fabrication equipment (electron beam lithography, photolithography, dry etching, thin film deposition), characterization equipment (SEMs, AFM, profilometer, optical microscopes), and equipment for electronic measurements.

	Quantum interference device, by electron beam lithography and wet etching on an InSb/InAlSb heterostructure.
Gold electrodes on Si/SiO2 fabricated by electron beam lithography using a PMGI/PMMA double layer resist, for nanoscale organic electronics. Electrode gap about 20 nm.

Education / history

• Ph.D.: Princeton University, 1994
• Post Doc: Florida State University & The National High Magnetic Field Lab
• Research Scientist at the Emcore Corporation (III-V narrow-gap semiconductors)
• Assistant Professor, Ohio University, Department of Physics and Astronomy
• Associate Professor, Ohio University, Department of Physics and Astronomy
• Director of the Nanoscale and Quantum Phenomena Institute, Ohio University
• Present, Associate Professor, Virginia Tech, Department of Physics