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Sankar Das Sarma

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Sankar Das Sarma
Born1953 (age 70–71)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Calcutta
Brown University
Scientific career
FieldsCondensed matter physics
Nanoscience
Quantum information
Theoretical physics
Statistical Physics
InstitutionsUniversity of Maryland, College Park
Doctoral advisorJohn Quinn

Sankar Das Sarma (/ˈʃæŋkɑːr dæʃ ˈʃɑːrmə/) is an India-born American theoretical condensed matter physicist. He has been a member of the department of physics at University of Maryland, College Park since 1980.[1]

Das Sarma is the Richard E. Prange Chair in Physics,[2] a distinguished university professor,[1] a Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), and the director of the Condensed Matter Theory Center[3] at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Career

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Das Sarma came to the United States from India as a physics graduate student in 1974 after finishing his secondary school (Hare School in Kolkata) and undergraduate education at Presidency College in Calcutta, India (now Presidency University in Kolkata) where he was born. He received his PhD in theoretical physics from Brown University in 1979 as a doctoral student of John Quinn.[4]

In collaboration with Chetan Nayak and Michael Freedman of Microsoft Research, Das Sarma introduced the topological qubit in 2005,[5][6] which has led to experiments in building a fault-tolerant quantum computer based on two-dimensional semiconductor structures. Das Sarma's work on graphene has led to the theoretical understanding of graphene carrier transport properties at low densities where the inhomogeneous electron-hole puddles dominate the graphene landscape.[7] In 2006 Das Sarma with Euyheon Hwang provided the basic theory for collective modes and dielectric response in graphene and related chiral two-dimensional materials.[8][9] In 2011 Das Sarma and collaborators introduced a new class of lattice tight-binding flat-band systems with nontrivial Chern numbers which belongs to the universality class of continuum quantum Hall and fractional quantum Hall systems without any external magnetic fields.[10] Such flat-band tight-binding systems with non-trivial Chern numbers have substantially enhanced the types of possible physical systems for the realization of topological matter.

In 2010, Das Sarma and collaborators, made a prediction that Majorana fermions will be found in condensed matter,[11] in particular, in semiconductor nanowires.[12][13] This has led to considerable experimental activity, led by Microsoft Corporation, to produce a topological quantum computer.[citation needed]

He has been a visiting professor at many institutions during his professional career, including Technical University of Munich, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, University of Hamburg, Cambridge University, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of New South Wales, Sandia National Laboratories, University of Melbourne, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, Institute for Theoretical Physics in Beijing, and Microsoft Station Q Research Center.[citation needed]

Books

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  • Das Sarma, Sankar; Pinczuk, Aron (2008). Perspectives in Quantum Hall Effects:: Novel Quantum Liquids in Low-Dimensional Semiconductor Structures. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-11216-7.
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  1. ^ a b "Sankar Das Sarma". International Centre for Theoretical Sciences. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  2. ^ "Das Sarma, Sankar". Department of Physics University of Maryland. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  3. ^ "Condensed Matter Theory Center webpage". Department of Physics University of Maryland. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  4. ^ "Das Sarma Receives Third Consecutive Honor as Influential Researcher". University of Maryland. November 18, 2016.
  5. ^ Das Sarma, Sankar; Freedman, Michael; Nayak, Chetan (2005). "Topologically Protected Qubits from a Possible Non-Abelian Fractional Quantum Hall State". Physical Review Letters. 94 (16): 166802. arXiv:cond-mat/0412343. Bibcode:2005PhRvL..94p6802D. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.166802. PMID 15904258. S2CID 8773427.
  6. ^ Nayak, Chetan; Simon, Steven H.; Stern, Ady; Freedman, Michael; Sankar Das Sarma (2007). "Topological Quantum Computation review article in Reviews of Modern Physics, 2008". Reviews of Modern Physics. 80 (3): 1083. arXiv:0707.1889. Bibcode:2008RvMP...80.1083N. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.80.1083. S2CID 119628297.
  7. ^ Adam, Shaffique; Hwang, E. H.; Galitski, V. M.; Sarma, S. Das (November 20, 2007). "A self-consistent theory for graphene transport". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (47): 18392–18397. Bibcode:2007PNAS..10418392A. doi:10.1073/pnas.0704772104. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 2141788. PMID 18003926.
  8. ^ Adam, S.; Hwang, E.H.; Rossi, E.; Das Sarma, S. (2009). "Theory of charged impurity scattering in two-dimensional graphene". Solid State Communications. 149 (27–28): 1072–1079. arXiv:0812.1795. Bibcode:2009SSCom.149.1072A. doi:10.1016/j.ssc.2009.02.041. ISSN 0038-1098. S2CID 330571.
  9. ^ Das Sarma, S.; Adam, Shaffique; Hwang, E. H.; Rossi, Enrico (2011). "Electronic transport in two-dimensional graphene". Reviews of Modern Physics. 83 (2): 407–470. arXiv:1003.4731. Bibcode:2011RvMP...83..407D. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.83.407. S2CID 118565433.
  10. ^ Sun, Kai; Gu, Zhengcheng; Katsura, Hosho; Das Sarma, S. (June 6, 2011). "Nearly Flatbands with Nontrivial Topology". Physical Review Letters. 106 (23): 236803. arXiv:1012.5864. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.236803. PMID 21770533. S2CID 22738426.
  11. ^ Lewton, Thomas. "The Near-Magical Mystery of Quasiparticles". Quanta Magazine. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  12. ^ "Retraction of Nature paper puts Majorana research on a new path". Physics World. March 26, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  13. ^ Hellemans, Alexander (March 26, 2021). "Majorana research on a new path". Physics World.