Pradeep Sharma
University of Houston, TX·Engineering
Quantum materials behave in unusual ways because of quantum effects in their electrons. Some are superconductors that carry electricity with no loss.
- Fields
Engineering
Materials Science
Physics
- Topics
quantum materials
superconductivity
superconductors
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- Model how strain, strain gradients, anisotropy and flexoelectricity (bending-induced electric charge) change superconductivity, by linking continuum mechanics to a quantum order parameter, to find ways to raise critical temperature and current.
- Develop theory for a strain-mediated three-way coupling between quantum, electric and magnetic fields in nanostructures, to identify new quantum materials for sensing and energy harvesting.
- Model how altering the quantum field with lasers or quantum confinement produces mechanical deformation, laying the theoretical basis for a new class of quantum actuators.
More about the research
Others are exceptionally sensitive sensors. These materials could power quantum computers, better data storage and more efficient power grids. However, scientists lack good tools to design them, especially to predict how stretching or bending a material changes its quantum behavior. This project develops theory and computer models that connect the everyday mechanics of solids to quantum, electric and magnetic fields.
Why it matters
Better design rules for quantum materials could help engineers raise the operating temperature and current of superconductors. Such superconductors matter for efficient power grids, levitating transport and fusion energy. The models may also point to new nanoscale materials for sensors, energy harvesters and light- or quantum-driven actuators used in future quantum and electronic technologies.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Vladyslav Kozii
Carnegie Mellon University, PA·Physics·Early-career
Develop and analyze theoretical pairing mechanisms for superconductors with very low electron density, determining when superconductivity can survive as carrier density approaches zero.
Heike Pfau
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Physics·Early-career
Use uniaxial pressure cells to strain unconventional superconductors and measure their changing electronic structure with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), to uncover the interactions that cause electrons to pair.
Yosuke Kanai
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Chemistry
Discover hybrid metal halide perovskite materials that show room-temperature superfluorescence, a collective burst of coordinated light emission, with colors tunable across the visible spectrum.
The school
University of Houston: 21 labs on PI Pages, $239M a year on research, 374 research doctorates a year.
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