r Frano X Lab

X Lab

X-ray Laboratory for Research on Quantum Materials

Welcome!

Welcome to the Frano X Lab (a.k.a The X-ray Laboratory for Research on Quantum Materials). Based at the University of California, San Diego near the sunny beaches of La Jolla, CA, our group studies the fascinating properties of materials with strongly correlated electrons. We are interested in investigating long-range periodicities in the spin, charge, and orbital quantum states observed in transition-metal-oxide films, superlattices, heterostructures and single crystals. To explore these spatially periodic behaviors we operate in Fourier space by performing modern x-ray scattering experiments at synchrotrons around the world. Feel free to explore our website for more information.

News

Non-local synaptic interactions discovered in nickelate neuromorphic devices in our latest paper Nano Letters (2023).

In collaboration with Eduardo da Silva Neto and Fabio Boschini, our latest paper features low-energy correlations that could be connected to the strange metal phenomenon in the cuprates (2023).


This summer (2023), our group is welcoming many undergraduate students!


All News

Research

Quantum Materials

Quantum Materials
We Work on

Quantum Materials
at the Nanoscale

Quantum Periodicities

How We Do It

Where We Do it

The Process

how is it done?

Imagine It

  • Determine material components of heterostructure
  • Grow it using PLD
  • Characterize the sample here at UCSD using x rays and other in-house facilities

Synchrotron It

  • Apply for beam time
  • Bring sample to the synchrotron
  • Use synchrotron x rays to characterize material and discover new periodicities

Write It

  • Analyze the data
  • Python, Matlab, Mathematica
  • Write and share our discoveries

Repeat!

Publications

Publication highlights:

We studied the structural effects of irradiating He ions on YBCO (2024).
A new type of charge order discovered in a layered transition metal dichalcogenide reported in PRL (2023).
We use coherent x-rays to image the formation of antiferromagnetic domains (2022).
Spin Spirals and Charge Textures in Transition-Metal-Oxide Heterostructures
All Publications

Members

Full List of Members
Alex Frano

Principal Investigator

(CV)
Sarmistha Das

Postdoctoral Researcher
Rourav Basak

Postdoctoral Researcher
Mayia Vranas

Graduate Student
Dong Le

Graduate Student
Biswajit Sahoo

Graduate Student
Robin Glefke

Graduate Student
Kate Matthews

Graduate Student
Ahsley Corey

Graduate Student
Wei "Francis" He

Graduate Student
Xiaoke "Amy" Li

Graduate Student
Ashley Thorshov

Undergraduate Student
Holden Bauer

Undergraduate Student
Nakshatra Bansal

Undergraduate Student
Tesa Manto

Undergraduate Student

Links

check these out!

Synchrotrons

Online Lectures

Physics Organizations

Links for Students

Cool Physics Videos

UCSD Resources

Contact us

If you have any questions about our research, or about condensed matter physics, please email us: afrano physics [dot] ucsd [dot] edu


CREDITS

Website Design: Ashley Nicole Warner

Logo and Cartoon Designs: Mario Rojas

Text Proofreading/Editing: Rock Paper Editing