Academic Background

After completing his BA in Physics (1994) and D.Phil in experimental condensed matter physics (1998) at Corpus Christi, Arzhang Ardavan spent three years as a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College. Since 2001 he has held a Tutorial Fellowship at Magdalen College, since 2003 a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, and since 2006 a Readership in Physics.

Undergraduate Teaching

First year: mathematical methods

Second year: mathematical methods and quantum mechanics

Research Interests

Dr Ardavan's research group is multidisciplinary, spanning the departments of Physics and Materials and linking strongly with the Department of Chemistry. The group benefits from close links with other world-leading research activities internationally.

His current research interests lie mainly in studying the effects of correlations in condensed matter systems. For example, while some of the properties of metals can be successfully explained by considering a large collection of electrons that are free to move around without directly influencing each other, many of the most interesting properties, such as superconductivity and magnetism, can only be explained by considering the consequences of the mutual repulsion (or correlations) between the electrons. This and related phenomena motivate his experiments in various systems:

* Electrical and thermoelectric effects in strongly correlated superconductors to elucidate the mechanisms of superconductivity

* Coherent control of the spin state of single-molecule magnets and fullerene derivatives to investigate their potential for applications in quantum information processing.

Selected Publications

"New kind of magneto optical resonance observed in the organic metal α-(BEDT-TTF)2KHg(SCN)4", A Ardavan, JM Schrama, SJ Blundell, J Singleton, W Hayes, M Kurmoo, P Day, P Goy, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 713—716 (1998)

"Observation of ordered phases of fullerenes in carbon nanotubes", AN Khlobystov, DA Britz, A Ardavan, GAD Briggs, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 245507 (2004)

"Bang-bang control of fullerene qubits using ultrafast phase gates", JJL Morton, AM Tyryshkin, A Ardavan, SC Benjamin, K Porfyrakis, SA Lyon, GAD Briggs, Nat. Phys. 2, 40—43 (2006)

"Effect of irradiation-induced disorder on the conductivity and critical temperature of the organic superconductor κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu(SCN)2", JG Analytis, A Ardavan, SJ Blundell, RL Owen, EF Garman, C Jeynes, BJ Powell, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 177002 (2006)

"Will spin-relaxation times in molecular magnets permit quantum information processing?", A Ardavan, O Rival, JJL Morton, SJ Blundell, AM Tyryshkin, GA Timco, REP Winpenny, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 057201 (2007)

"Fluctuating superconductivity in organic molecular metals close to the Mott transition", MS Nam, A Ardavan, SJ Blundell, JA Schlueter, Nature 449, 584—587 (2007)

"Solid state quantum memory using the 31P nuclear spin", JJL Morton, AM Tyryshkin, RM Brown, S Shankar, BW Lovett, A Ardavan, T Schenkel, EE Haller, JW Ager, SA Lyon, Nature 455, 1085—1088 (2008)

"Magnetic field sensing beyond the standard quantum limit using 10-spin NOON states" JA Jones, SD Karlen, J Fitzsimons, A Ardavan, SC Benjamin, GAD Briggs, JJL Morton, Science 324, 1166—1168 (2009)