Mahmoud Abdel-Hafiez

I am an associate professor (Docent in Physics) leading a group with a specific interest in studying quantum materials with thermodynamic, magnetic, and transport experiments in high pressure and low temperatures. I use collaborations for neutron, x-ray scattering and muSR spectroscopy to study the magnetic ground state. The aim is to grow high quality single crystals of the materials that we study. Current interests include SC, CDW, and the behavior of electrons in 2D and 1D-materials.

I am broadly interested in condensed-matter physics, but particularly in the way that electrons behave when they are subjected to extreme conditions such as high pressure, ultra-low temperatures and high magnetic fields.

Since my PhD (2012) at the Dresden University of Technology "Prof. Dr. Bernd Büchner", appointments at Université de Liège (2012-14) and the Center for High Pressure Science & Technology Advanced Research in China as a faculty member (2014-16) and Eigene Stelle, DFG grant, at the Goethe-University Frankfurt (2016-18), and Research Associate at Physics Department, Harvard University (2018-…), and currently an Associate Professor, with Docent, at Uppsala university, my research has focussed on the science and technologies of quantum materials. My main specific interest is studying quantum materials with unconventional superconducting, magnetic and/or electronic properties. We employ a combination of magnetic and transport measurements, often in high-pressure. Current interests include superconductivity, charge density wave formation, and the behavior of electrons in 2D and 1D-materials.

I have a highly interdisciplinary background with an extensive international experiences through my academic career. I have authored 81 publications, 39 of which as last, first, and corresponding author, in high-impact journals including: Nature Material, Nature Communications, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review B, and the Crystal Growth-family of journals. My work has been cited more than 2200 times and the h-index is 26. I have supervised 4 Masters and two PhD-students, and currently have two employed postdocs and two Masters-students.

Early Academic career: My Ph.D. in physics, at the Technische Universität Dresden in Germany, emphasizes important aspects on exploring the coexistence between magnetism and superconductivity as a function of different tuning parameters in iron-based superconductors. I participated in every step of my thesis: defining the scientific questions, prepare the related materials, collecting the data through various experimental techniques, and writing manuscripts. This period generated 13 publications, including reports on a systematic theromodynamic studies in KFe2As2, LiFeAs, M1−xNaxFe2As2(M = Ca, Ba) and Ca(Fe1−xCox)2Fe2As2 systems.

In Belgium: In 2013, I joined Prof. Alejandro Silhanek’s research group at the Université de Liège, for a one-year postdoctoral fellowship. My postdoc-project focused on studying the FeSe superconductors. I introduced, for the first time in FeSe, new technique on how to measure and exact determination of the lower critical fields. This work answered a long standing question on whether the superconducting properties of this material can or cannot be accounted for a nodal order parameter, the results were published in Phys. Rev. B and further highlighted by: Phys.org/new.

In China: In 2014, I moved to Shanghai to lead a research group studying quantum materials under extreme conditions at the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology. During this period I gained expertise on High Pressure science. Although we were a young research group, we achieved high quality publications as in Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Physical Review Letters, and Scientific Reports. During my time in China I supervised three master students and two postdoctoral fellow.

In Germany/Frankfurt: In 2016, I received a highly competitive grant from the German Science Foundation (DFG Eigene Stelle), and moved to Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany with Prof. Cornelius Krellner's research group. During this project, we’ve introduced a new technique to grow the first and large high-quality single crystals in NdFeAsOF system. Additionally, we have addressed long-standing issue related to the superconducting gap in these materials followed by detailed studies on the pressure effects on the superconducting properties of the grown materials. In addition to working on NdFeAsO system, I gained an extensive experience to grow and synthesize a host of materials as in Ba2Ti2Fe2As4O published in ( https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.97.115152). During this time, I supervised one PhD and four master students.

In USA/Harvard: In 2018, following a very competitive recruitment process, I joined Prof. Isaac Silvera’s research group at the Physics Department at Harvard University, where I studied two dimensional materials under extreme high pressure. In addition to publishing three articles on NbS3 and FeSe in Phys.Rev.B and Jetp Lett, I worked on the metallic Hydrogen under 500 Giga Pascal. I supervised one master student and one postdoc working on 2D materials and have published 7-papers.