- Academic

Research Group(s):
Education:
- BA, MPhys Oxford, 2000.
- PhD, The University of Texas at Austin, 2005.
- Postdoc, Argonne National Lab 2006-2008, with Prof. Roland Winkler.
- Postdoc, CMTC - University of Maryland, College Park, 2008-2010, with Prof. Sankar Das Sarma.
Research Interests:
Our group focuses on two main areas: quantum transport and quantum computing. You can read our recent review on transport in topological materials here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2053-1583/ab6ff7.
QUANTUM TRANSPORT
Our focus is on systems with strong spin-orbit interactions, such as topological insulators, Weyl semimetals, transition metal dichalcogenides and holes in semiconductor nanostructures. We are interested in nonequilibrium phenomena such as charge and spin transport that involve the interplay of spin-orbit coupling and associated topological quantities with disorder, carrier-carrier interactions, as well as external electric and magnetic fields.
At present our group is developing a program to understand the non-linear electrical and optical response of topological states, which serves as a platform towards an understanding of topological materials in general. Our recent work demonstrated that doped Dirac fermion systems exhibit a resonant photovoltaic response - you can read about it here: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.087402. Similarly, we demonstrated that spin-charge disorder correlations have a strong effect on anomalous Hall transport in topological insulators, and can even flip the sign of the conductivity, as observed experimentally: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.126603.
Another area of interest is the crossover between diffusive and ballistic transport in topological edge states and realising the promise of dissipationless transport. As part of FLEET and in collaboration with Prof. Michael Fuhrer's group at Monash we are working to understand the magneto-resistance of topological edge states following exciting experimental observations: https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.01214.
Topics we have focused on in the past include screening and Friedel oscillations, magnetic instabilities, the Kondo effect, weak localisation, spin relaxation and dephasing, and graphene, whose Hamiltonian resembles that of spin-orbit coupled systems, with the real spin replaced by a lattice pseudospin degree of freedom.
QUANTUM COMPUTING
We are interested in quantum computing platforms and qubit architectures that employ spins confined in semiconductor quantum dots, as well as in atoms such as acceptors and donors. We study spin manipulation, relaxation, dephasing and entanglement schemes. Dephasing is especially important in quantum computing, since it is equivalent to a loss of information, and can hamper single-qubit operations as well as entanglement. It can come from noise, phonons, as well as other mechanisms. Our recent work showed this can be mitigated in semiconductor hole systems at specific optimal operation points, you can see our latest preprint on this topic here: https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.11143.
Honours, Awards and Memberships:
Australian Research Council Future Fellow 2019-2023
Selected Publications:
Pankaj Bhalla, Allan H. MacDonald, D. Culcer
Resonant photovoltaic effect in doped magnetic semiconductors Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 087402 (2020)E. Marcellina, Pankaj Bhalla, A. R. Hamilton, Dimitrie Culcer Signatures of quantum mechanical Zeeman effect in classical transport due to topological properties of two-dimensional spin-3/2 holes Phys. Rev. B (Rapid Communication) 101, 121302 (2020).
Dimitrie Culcer and Attila Geresdi Topological states Accepted for publication as part of Nanotechnology Roadmap.
D. Culcer, Aydin Cem Keser, Yongqing Li, and Grigory Tkachov
Transport in two-dimensional topological materials: recent developments in experiment and theory, 2D Materials https://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/ab6ff7 (2020).Aydin Cem Keser, Roberto Raimondi, D. Culcer
Sign change in the anomalous Hall effect and strong transport effects in a 2D massive Dirac metal due to spin-charge correlated disorder Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 126603 (2019)Shuai Yang, Zhilin Li, Chaojing Lin, Changjiang Yi, Youguo Shi, D. Culcer, Yongqing Li Unconventional temperature dependence of the anomalous Hall effect in HgCr2Se4
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 096601 (2019)Sultan Albarakati, Cheng Tan, Zhong-Jia Chen, James G. Partridge, Guolin Zheng, Lawrence Farrar, Edwin L.H. Mayes, Matthew R. Field, Changgu Lee, Yihao Wang, Yiming Xiong, Mingliang Tian, Feixiang Xiang, Alex R. Hamilton, Oleg A. Tretiakov, D. Culcer, Yu-Jun Zhao, Lan Wang Antisymmetric magnetoresistance in van der Waals Fe3GeTe2/graphite/Fe3GeTe2 tri-layer heterostructures, Science Advances 5, eaaw0409 (2019).
Tuomo Tanttu, Bas Hensen, Kok Wai Chan, Henry Yang, Wister Huang, Michael Fogarty, Fay Hudson, Kohei Itoh, D. Culcer, Arne Laucht, Andrea Morello, Andrew Dzurak Controlling spin-orbit interactions in silicon quantum dots using magnetic field direction Phys. Rev. X 9, 021028 (2019)
M.A. Fogarty, K.W. Chan, B. Hensen, W. Huang, T. Tanttu, C.H. Yang, A. Laucht, M. Veldhorst, F.E. Hudson, K.M. Itoh, D. Culcer, A. Morello, A.S. Dzurak
Integrated silicon qubit platform with single-spin addressability, exchange control and robust single-shot singlet-triplet readout Nature Communication 9, 4370 (2018).Maxim Trushin, Antonio H. Castro Neto, Giovanni Vignale, D. Culcer
Hidden Anisotropy in the Drude Conductivity of Charge Carriers with Dirac-Schrodinger Dynamics Phys. Rev. B 100, 035427 (2019).Hong Liu, Elizabeth Marcellina, Alexander R. Hamilton, and D. Culcer
Strong influence of spin-orbit coupling on magnetotransport in two-dimensional hole systems Physical Review Letters 121, 087701 (2018).E. Marcellina, A. Srinivasan, D.?S. Miserev, A.?F. Croxall, D.?A. Ritchie, I. Farrer, O.?P. Sushkov, D. Culcer, and A. R. Hamilton Electrical Control of the Zeeman Spin Splitting in Two-Dimensional Hole Systems Physical Review Letters 121, 077701 (2018).
J. C. Abadillo-Uriel, Joe Salfi, Xuedong Hu, Sven Rogge, M. J. Calderon, and D. Culcer Entanglement control and magic angles for acceptor qubits in Si
Applied Physics Letters 113, 012102 (2018).M.L.V. Tagliaferri, P.L. Bavdaz, W. Huang, A.S. Dzurak, D. Culcer, M. Veldhorst Impact of valley phase and splitting on readout of silicon spin qubits
Physical Review B 97, 245412 (2018).Weizhe Edward Liu, Stefano Chesi, David Webb, U. Zuelicke, R. Winkler, Robert Joynt, and D. Culcer
A generalized Stoner criterion and versatile spin ordering in two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled electron systems Physical Review B 96, 235425 (2017).Weizhe Edward Liu, Ewelina M. Hankiewicz, and D. Culcer
Weak Localization and Antilocalization in Topological Materials with Impurity Spin-Orbit Interactions Invited article for Materials 10, 807 (2017).N. M. Zimmerman, Peihao Huang and Dimitrie Culcer
Valley Phase and Voltage Control of Coherent Manipulation in Si Quantum Dots Nano Letters DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b01677.D. Culcer, A. Sekine and A. H. MacDonald
Inter-band Coherence Response to Electric Fields in Crystals: Berry-Phase Contributions and Disorder Effects Physical Review B 96, 035106 (2017).
Hong Liu and D. Culcer Coulomb drag in topological materials Invited article for Topical Issue on Spin-Orbit Coupled Materials, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids (2017): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpcs.2017.06.015.
Jo-Tzu Hung, Elizabeth Marcellina, Bin Wang, Alexander R. Hamilton, and D. Culcer Spin blockade as a probe of Zeeman interactions in hole quantum dots
Physical Review B 95, 195316 (2017).Hong Liu, Weizhe Edward Liu, and D. Culcer Anomalous Hall Coulomb drag of massive Dirac fermions Physical Review B 95, 205435 (2017).
Daisy Q. Wang, Oleh Klochan, Jo-Tzu Hung, D. Culcer, Ian Farrer, David A. Ritchie, and Alex R. Hamilton Anisotropic Pauli Spin Blockade of Holes in a GaAs Double Quantum Dot
Nano Letters DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b03752 (arXiv:1612.01062)J. Salfi, J. A. Mol, D. Culcer, and S. Rogge
A charge-insensitive single-atom spin-orbit qubit in silicon Physical Review Letters 116, 246801 (2016).J. Salfi, M. Tong, S. Rogge, and D. Culcer,
Quantum computing with interface-bound silicon acceptor qubits
Invited article for the Focus Issue on Quantum Information Processing, Nanotechnology 27, 244001 (2016).E. Marcellina, A. R. Hamilton, R. Winkler, and D. Culcer
Spin-orbit interactions in inversion-asymmetric 2D hole systems: a variational analysis Physical Review B 95, 075305 (2017).W. Huang, M. Veldhorst, N. M. Zimmerman, A. S. Dzurak, and D. Culcer A valley-driven spin-orbit qubit in silicon
Physical Review B 95, 075403 (2017).P. Boross, G. Szechenyi, D. Culcer, and A. Palyi
Control of valley dynamics in silicon quantum dots in the presence of an interface step Physical Review B 94, 035438 (2016).P. Adroguer, W. E. Liu, D. Culcer and E. M. Hankiewicz
Conductivity Corrections for Topological Insulators with Spin-Orbit Impurities: Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka Formula Revisited Physical Review B 92, 241402 (2015).A. Kha, R. Joynt and D. Culcer
Do micromagnets expose spin qubits to charge and Johnson noise? Applied Physics Letters 107, 172101 (2015).H. Liu, W. E. Liu, and D. Culcer
Coulomb drag in topological insulator films Physica E 79, 72 (2015).
Z. Yue, X. Wang, D. Wang, J. Wang, D. Culcer, and S. Dou Crossover of magnetoresistance from fourfold to twofold symmetry in SmB6 single crystal, a topological Kondo insulator Journal of the Physical Society of Japan 84, 044717 (2015).
A. Bermeister, D. Keith, and D. Culcer
Charge noise, spin-orbit coupling, and dephasing of single-spin qubits Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 192102 (2014).Chenyong Ju, Chao Lei, Xiangkun Xu, D. Culcer, Zhenyu Zhang, and Jiangfeng Du
NV-Center Based Digital Quantum Simulation of a Quantum Phase Transition in Topological Insulators Phys. Rev. B 89, 045432 (2014); selected for Editor’s Suggestions.Weizhe Edward Liu, Hong Liu and D. Culcer
Screening, Friedel oscillations and low-temperature conductivity in topological insulator thin films Phys. Rev. B 89, 195417 (2014).G.-F. Zhang, X.-G. Li, G-F. Wu, J. Wang, D. Culcer, E. Kaxiras, and Z.-Y. Zhang Topological Proximity Effects in Graphene Nanoribbon Heterostructures Nanoscale 6, 3259 (2014).
Jie Wang and D. Culcer
Suppression of the Kondo Resistivity Minimum in Magnetic Topological Insulators Phys. Rev. B 88, 125140 (2013).L. Jiang, C. H. Yang, Z. Pan, A. Rossi, A. S. Dzurak, and D. Culcer Coulomb interaction and valley-orbit coupling in Si quantum dots Phys. Rev. B 88, 085311, (2013).
Xintao Bi, Peiru He, E. M. Hankiewicz, R. Winkler, G. Vignale, and D. Culcer Anomalous spin precession and spin Hall effect in semiconductor quantum wells Phys. Rev. B 88, 035316 (2013).
D. Culcer and N. M. Zimmerman
Dephasing of Si singlet-triplet qubits due to charge and spin defects Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 232108 (2013).Weizhe Edward Liu, Allan H. MacDonald, and D. Culcer Electron-electron interactions in non-equilibrium bilayer graphene Phys. Rev. B 87, 085408 (2013).
X.-G. Li, G.-F. Zhang, G-F. Wu, H. Chen, D. Culcer, and Z.-Y. Zhang Proximity effects in topological insulator heterostructures
Chin. Phys. B 22, 097306 (2013).