Mingee has published dozens of columns and articles for public awareness of physical sciences. They appeared in a popular webzine, Crossroads, published by the Asia-Pacific Centre for Theoretical Physics, and also in major Korean newspapers including Hankyoreh and Munhwa-ilbo. We plan to do such activities in English to reach out more broadly.
Jeong Group
The Jeong group specialises in quantum magnetism with a focus on collective quantum phenomena such as emergence of quantum entangled states and criticality.
Research
We are an experimental research group in quantum magnetism - Resonance Lab. Our research is focused on collective quantum phenomena in magnetic materials and spin systems; we deal with such topics as quantum phase transitions, criticality, spin liquids, spin transport and so on.
Our primary experimental technique is NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectroscopy, which is a powerful local probe at atomic scale of electronic and magnetic properties of matter. Additionally, we employ other in-house techniques (thermodynamic and transport) or those available at facilities (scattering, muon, and electron microscopy).
Vision
Vision
Our vision is to deepen our understanding of quantum matter through design and discovery.
Design - we create and control exotic quantum states of matter with guidance of theoretical development.
Discovery - we explore uncharted territory of materials under extreme conditions.
Projects
Projects
Anomalous spin transport
Ink drops into water - any different in the quantum world? We look into how spin fluctuations propagate in one-dimensional quantum systems. Steady-state transport is one of the simplest of non-equilibrium situations with a long history. However, the field is completely reshaping due to the recent theoretical discovery of super-diffusion in one-dimensional Heisenberg spin chains and its unexpected link to the non-equilibrium universality class of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang. This research is supported by the EPSRC via a New Investigator Award (2023-2025).
Strain tuning of quantum magnets
Just a bit of stress could make our lives much more dynamic - same for quantum matter. Some exotic quantum phases such as quantum spin liquids (highly entangled spins with topological order - potentially useful for building quantum computers) are predicted to exist in theory. Searching for them in real materials, however, is a great challenge because the theoretical models sought after are fine tuned. Then, why don't we directly tune the materials parameters to realise the theoretical models? We use uniaxial strain to tune the quantum magnets to realise exotic quantum ground states, excitations and critical points. This research received seed funding from the University of Birmingham (BRIDGE) and the Royal Society (Research Grant, 2022-2023).
Serving society
Serving society
As our research is funded by public research councils and charities, and also supported in various ways by our colleagues, we are committed to applying our knowledge and sharing expertise for the benefit of greater communities and society. We look through the famous Congressional Testimony by Dr Wilson.
Research themes
Research themes
All group members are encouraged to engage in one of the following themes (or can suggest their own!)
Fundamental physics with cryogenics
Our group is part of the QSNET consortium, which delivers a project of the national programme, Quantum Technologies for Fundamental Physics, jointly funded by EPSRC and STFC. The goal of the QSNET project is to test stability of fundamental constants such as the fine structure constant and the mass ratio of the proton to the electron. The plan is to link different kinds of Quantum Clocks at different locations. At Birmingham, a highly charged-ion clock using a cryogenic ion trap is under construction, for which we share our expertise in cryogenic techniques.
G. Barontini et al., EPJ Quantum Technology, 9(1), 12 (2022).
Cold energy using magnetic materials
One can raise or lower the temperature of certain materials by applying or removing a magnetic field, respectively. This is called the Magneto-Caloric Effect, which forms a basis of cleaner and more efficient cooling or refrigeration. We share our expertise in magnetic characterisation to support researchers from chemistry, materials and metallurgy for their new designs (e.g., involving frustration) and processing (e.g., additive manufacturing or 3D printing) of advanced magneto-caloric materials.
J. Head et al., Chemistry of Materials, 32 (23), 10184 (2020).
PhD and postdoc opportunities
We are looking for candidates with one or more skills from the following: i) competent hands-on experimental skill in e.g., electronics or cryogenics, ii) good at scientific writing, data visualisation or theory and iii) strong coding, data analysis, computer aided design or instrumentation skill. Please email Dr Mingee Jeong at the address below to arrange a discussion. Open PhD studentships are listed on the central University Find a PhD page, but informal discussions are welcomed at any time.