Announcing the Winners of the 2023 Journal of Applied Physics Early Career Investigator Selection's Best Paper Award

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Sep 17, 2024, 09:57 ET

Ahmedullah Aziz, Georgia T. Papadakis, and Tingting Shen take home awards for their work showcasing the scope of the Journal of Applied Physics and the field at large

MELVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Journal of Applied Physics (JAP) is honored to announce Ahmedullah Aziz, Georgia T. Papadakis, and Tingting Shen as winners of the 2023 Journal of Applied Physics Early Career Investigator Selection's Best Paper award.

Highlighting the exceptional work of early career principal investigators who received their PhDs less than 10 years ago, the JAP Early Career Investigator Selection is an annual featured collection covering all areas of applied physics research. This year's collection consists of 45 papers, which a Selection Committee consisting of journal editors and Editorial Advisory Board members whittled down from 119 eligible entries.

The three winners will have their papers highlighted in this year's virtual collection. They will also be invited to join the JAP Editorial Advisory Board, and to serve on the Selection Committee for next year's Early Career Investigator Selection and Best Paper award.

"We are delighted to be recognizing these outstanding bright young minds as winners of the Journal of Applied Physics 2023 Early Career Investigator Selection Best Papers," said JAP Editor-in-Chief Prof. Julia R. Greer. "Their fields range from thermal photonics to superconductors for brain-inspired electronic applications to beyond — including complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices, such as tunneling field effect transistors and magneto-electric devices. This showcases the breadth and the depth of research areas supported by our journal, as well as of the overall field of Applied Physics."

"Being honored and recognized by colleagues in academia is one of the highest honors for a scientist, and we are beyond proud of these trailblazers and of their accomplishments," she added.

Learn more about the winners and their papers below:

Ahmedullah Aziz

Prof. Aziz's paper, "A review of cryogenic neuromorphic hardware," was published in the February 15, 2023 issue of JAP.

An assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Prof. Aziz earned his PhD from Purdue University and MS from Penn State University. Originally from Bangladesh, he did his undergraduate studies at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

Prof. Aziz's research is focused on the unique properties of superconductors for electronic applications — specifically, brain-inspired computing.

"A significant part of my work involves exploring how superconducting devices can facilitate the development of large-scale neuromorphic systems," said Prof. Aziz. "We are particularly interested in discovering innovative designs for spiking neurons and synapses through the coupled dynamics of various superconducting devices."

In his winning paper, Prof. Aziz and his team explored the development of neuromorphic systems — including both superconducting and non-superconducting devices — operating at cryogenic temperatures. In synthesizing an array of device architectures and evaluating their potential to emulate neurosynaptic functions with high energy efficiency, it provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art technology, discusses key challenges within the field, and offers insights on potential future aims for cryogenic neuromorphic computing research.

"Receiving this award is a profound honor that validates my contributions to applied physics research and further energizes my commitment to advancing the field of cryogenic electronics," said Prof. Aziz.

According to Prof. Aziz, the team is now focused on the development of novel topologies for artificial neurons using coupled superconducting oscillators. In the future, they intend to work on an extensive co-design of hardware and software tailored for cryogenic neuromorphic systems.

Georgia T. Papadakis

Prof. Papadakis's paper, "Dynamic modulation of thermal emission – a tutorial," was published in the March 15, 2023 issue of JAP.

A professor in the Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques (ICFO) at Spain's Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Prof. Papadakis studied electrical and computer engineering at Greece's National Technical University of Athens. After working on particle accelerators for a year at CERN in Switzerland, she left to receive her PhD in applied physics at the California Institute of Technology and complete her postdoctoral studies at Stanford University's TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy.

Prof. Papadakis's focus is thermal photonics — the harnessing and control of thermal radiation. Her group works to develop novel approaches to controlling thermal radiation's flow for the purposes of contactless cooling, refrigeration, and the generation of renewable energy. The research has potential in other applications as well, from temperature regulation and control to sensors, detection, and security. It also includes the realization and characterization of materials that can help control thermal radiation, such as emerging low-dimensional and phase-change materials.

"We wrote this paper aiming to explain the field to incoming students at the undergraduate and graduate level," said Prof. Papadakis. "It discusses ways available to us to tailor the blackbody spectrum of thermal radiation."

According to Papadakis, one important takeaway from the paper is when objects that exchange heat are in close proximity, the blackbody limit (σT⁴) stops applying, due to near-field interactions. This then opens numerous opportunities for extreme rates of heat transfer at nanometric distances — facilitating an array of applications in energy and sensing.

"We also explain that, unlike blackbody thermal emission, which is by default incoherent, progress in nanophotonics allows us to introduce coherence in thermal radiation — something that was not straightforward two decades ago," said Prof. Papadakis.

The paper also outlines basic principles for the measurement of thermal emission and radiation, as well as material properties that are key to tuning the thermal emission of microscopic and macroscopic bodies.

"Recognitions in science don't come easily, and this makes them very special," said Prof. Papadakis. "It is very important for senior colleagues to nominate early-career scientists, and for journals and organizations to create such award opportunities. This Best Paper award, in particular, is important to me and my group, as we strive for clarity, simplicity, and quality when writing papers. This is something I have learnt from my postdoc advisor, Prof. Fan, at Stanford University."

Building on the knowledge and experience she has earned over the past few years, Prof. Papadakis said she and her team are now looking to develop practical and efficient concepts for applications in renewable energy, temperature regulation, and the generation of coherent infrared light.

Tingting Shen

Dr. Shen's paper, "A Magnetoelectric Memory Device Based on Pseudo-Magnetization," was published in the July 18, 2023 issue of JAP.

A senior surface acoustic wave development engineer at Qorvo, Inc., Dr. Shen received her PhD from Purdue University's Department of Physics and Astronomy in 2021. Following graduation, she joined Intel as a 3D NAND device engineer before moving to Qorvo.

Acknowledging that the physical limits of Moore's Law — that the number of transistors on a chip doubles approximately every two years — will be reached sometime in the 2020s, Dr. Shen's focus is on looking at beyond-CMOS technologies such as tunneling field effect transistors, negative capacitance field effect transistors, spin-torque devices, and magnetoelectric devices.

"The working principles and material systems of these novel devices are different from the traditional CMOS," said Dr. Shen. "Although there is a long way to go for them to replace CMOS, they can perform certain tasks that are inefficient for CMOS."

In their winning paper, Dr. Shen and her team have evaluated to what extent nano-electric/magnetic hybrid devices can be used for energy-efficient data storage in novel memory architectures. Her team's devices utilize pseudo-magnetization, rather than a definite magnetization direction, in piezoelectric/ferromagnetic (PE/FM) heterostructures — showing how a PE/FM combination can lead to non-volatility in pseudo-magnetization exhibiting ferroelectric-like behavior.

Through their work, Dr. Shen and her team demonstrated the feasibility and performance opportunities of their proposed novel device. She now plans to apply the proposed device in real-world utilizations, which means exploring stack and fabrication variations.

"I am very honored to receive this award," said Dr. Shen. "It is a big encouragement to my research. It means the hard work of my team has been recognized, which helps motivate us to continue our efforts in this area."

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Journal of Applied Physics (JAP) is an influential international journal publishing significant new experimental and theoretical results of applied physics research. The journal also publishes perspectives, tutorials, methods, and special collections focusing on research of particular current or emerging interest.

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