Materials Project Seminar – Sinéad Griffin, 'Probing Fundamental Physics with the Materials Project'

Title: "Probing Fundamental Physics with the Materials Project"

Presented as a Materials Project Seminar on October 15th 2021.

Speaker: Sinéad Griffin, Staff Scientist, Materials Sciences Division and Molecular Foundry, Berkeley Lab

Abstract: Dark matter is estimated to account for approximately 85% of the matter in our universe, yet to date it has evaded direct detection. With the push for more sensitive targets for dark matter detection, quantum materials have come to the fore. In this talk, I will discuss new ideas for detecting low-mass dark matter with quantum materials, and how materials informatics approaches can be used to identify materials candidates with superior sensitivities. Finally, I will discuss how other correlated quantum phenomena such as topological phases have been uncovered using the Materials Project, and discuss some challenges and opportunities for the intersection between fundamental physics and materials sciences.