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Kin Fai Mak

Josephson Family Professor in the College of Arts & Sciences

Spectroscopy; two-dimensional quantum materials and their heterostructures; Berry curvature effects in solids; two-dimensional superconductivity and exciton condensation; magnetism; strong correlation physics.


Research

Our research group explores new physical phenomena in atomically thin materials and their heterostructures. We study a wide range of materials with very different properties, which include semiconductors, superconductors and magnets etc. We stack them together to form heteostructures, and make electronics and opto-mechanical devices based on this material platform. To explore new phenomena, we also develop new measurement and imaging techniques suitable for specific problems on hand. Our ultimate goal is to push the limit on what can be seen and done in this two-dimensional world.


Awards and Honors

  • PECASE, 2019
  • ONR Young Investigator Award, 2018
  • Macronix Prize, 2016 
  • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 2017
  • Packard Foundation Fellow, 2016
  • AFOSR Young Investigator Award, 2016
  • DOE Early Career Award, 2015
  • IUPAP Young Scientist Prize, 2013
  • Michelson Post-doctoral Prize, 2012

Educational Background

  • Professor, Physics and Applied & Engineering Physics, Cornell University, 2022-present
  • Associate Professor, Physics and Applied & Engineering Physics, Cornell University, 2019-2022
  • Assistant Professor, Physics and Applied & Engineering Physics, Cornell University, 2018-2019
  • Assistant Professor, Physics, Pennsylvania State University, 2014-2018
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Cornell University, 2012-2014
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University, 2010-2012
  • Ph.D. in Physics, Columbia University, 2010
  • B.S. in Physics and Mathematics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2005