• Research News

    Researchers Spy Finish Line in Race for Majorana Qubits

    Our computer age is built on a foundation of semiconductors. As researchers and engineers look toward a new generation of computers that harness quantum physics, they are exploring various foundations for the burgeoning technology. Almost every computer on earth, from a pocket calculator to Read More
  • Research News

    Superconductivity’s Halo: Physicists Map Rare High-field Phase

     A puzzling form of superconductivity that arises only under strong magnetic fields has been mapped and explained by a research team of UMD, NIST and Rice University including  professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University. Their findings,  published in Science July 31, detail how uranium Read More
  • Research News

    New Protocol Demonstrates and Verifies Quantum Speedups in a Jiffy

    While breakthrough results over the past few years have garnered headlines proclaiming the dawn of quantum supremacy, they have also masked a nagging problem that researchers have been staring at for decades: Demonstrating the advantages of a quantum computer is only half the battle; Read More
  • Research News

    Work on 2D Magnets Featured in Nature Physics Journal

    University of Maryland Professor Cheng Gong (ECE), along with his postdocs Dr. Ti Xie, Dr. Jierui Liang and collaborators in Georgetown University (Professor Kai Liu group), UC Berkeley (Professor Ziqiang Qiu), University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Professor David Mandrus group) and UMD Physics (Professor Victor M. Yakovenko), have made Read More
  • Research News

    NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Reveals a Key Particle Accelerator Near the Sun

    Flying closer to the sun than any spacecraft before it, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe uncovered a new source of energetic particles near Earth’s star, according to a new study co-authored by University of Maryland researchers.  Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on May 29, 2025, Read More
  • Research News

    Time Crystal Research Enters a New Phase

    Our world only exists thanks to the diverse properties of the many materials that make it up. The differences between all those materials result from more than just which atoms and molecules form them. A material’s properties also depend on how those basic building Read More
  • Research News

    Mysteriously Mundane Turbulence Revealed in 2D Superfluid

    Despite existing everywhere, the quantum world is a foreign place where many of the rules of daily life don’t apply. Quantum objects jump through solid walls; quantum entanglement connects the fates of particles no matter how far they are separated; and quantum objects may Read More
  • Research News

    A New Piece in the Matter–Antimatter Puzzle

    aOn March 24, 2025 at the annual Rencontres de Moriond conference taking place in La Thuile, Italy, the LHCb collaboration at CERN reported a new milestone in our understanding of the subtle yet profound differences between matter and antimatter. In its analysis of large Read More
  • Research News

    Researchers Play a Microscopic Game of Darts with Melted Gold

    Sometimes, what seems like a fantastical or improbable chain of events is just another day at the office for a physicist. In a recent experiment by University of Maryland researchers at the Laboratory for Physical Sciences, a scene played out that would be right Read More
  • 1 Researchers Spy Finish Line in Race for Majorana Qubits
  • 2 Superconductivity’s Halo: Physicists Map Rare High-field Phase
  • 3 New Protocol Demonstrates and Verifies Quantum Speedups in a Jiffy
  • 4 Work on 2D Magnets Featured in Nature Physics Journal
  • 5 NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Reveals a Key Particle Accelerator Near the Sun
  • 6 Time Crystal Research Enters a New Phase
  • 7 Mysteriously Mundane Turbulence Revealed in 2D Superfluid
  • 8 A New Piece in the Matter–Antimatter Puzzle
  • 9 Researchers Play a Microscopic Game of Darts with Melted Gold

Physics is Phun

Department News

  • UMD Appoints Renowned Physicist to Lead Quantum Research and Education The University of Maryland has named Gretchen Campbell, an internationally recognized researcher and national leader in advancing the field of quantum science, as associate vice president for quantum research and education, effective July 13, 2025. In this newly established position, Campbell will collaborate with faculty, Read More
  • UMD Physics Rated #19 in the World The University of Maryland Department of Physics was ranked No. 19 globally in U.S. News & World Report’s list of 2025-26 Best Global Universities. Of U.S. campuses, only three public universities--and 10 overall--ranked higher in physics. "This is a tribute to all of us working Read More
  • Alumni Honored with NSF Fellowships Physics graduates Jade LeSchack, Elaine Taylor and Jeffrey Wack have received prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships, which recognize outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This year’s awardees from the University of Maryland’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS) Read More
  • Hafezi Receives Humboldt Research Award Mohammad Hafezi has received a Humboldt Research Award, which acknowledges his history of impactful research and supports visiting Germany to collaborate with colleagues there. Each year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation gives the award, which is supported by the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Read More
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Instructors for physics courses should submit their textbook orders, as well as orders for MasteringPhysics, clickers, etc, via FacultyEnlight. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions. 

Editors' Suggestion by Ian Appelbaum and Pengke Li (李鹏科)

 

Ian image for editors suggestionsThe electronic structure of crystalline materials reflects the influence of underlying discrete symmetries of the atomic lattice. When these symmetries are broken, associated degeneracies in the spectrum of states often split, with important consequences for potential electronic and spintronic applications. The mathematical language of group theory can be used to capture the effect of these symmetries and provide insight into the origins of spectrum features obtained from essentially empirical ab initio numerical calculations such as density functional theory. A salient example comes from the unusual electronic structure of atomically thin two-dimensional "four-six-ene" semiconductors such as tin sulfide, germanium telluride, etc. (related to group-V phosphorene but formed from group IV and VI). In this case, group theoretic methods provide a straightforward framework for understanding the consequences of inversion symmetry breaking due to inequivalent sublattice atomic identity. In particular, the quantum states at the edge of the fundamental band gap – relevant to all transport, optoelectronic, and spintronic properties – are shown to directly inherit their character from nearby points of high symmetry in the reciprocal lattice, where the form of allowable energetic interactions is constrained.

Abstract: Band-edge states in the indirect-gap group-IV metal monochalcogenide monolayers (four-six-enes such as SnS, GeTe, etc.) inherit the properties of nearby reciprocal space points of high symmetry at the Brillouin zone edge. We employ group theory and the method of invariants to capture these essential symmetries in effective Hamiltonians including spin-orbit coupling, and use perturbation theory to shed light on the nature of the band-edge states. In particular, we show how the structure of derived wave functions leads to specific dominant momentum and spin scattering mechanisms for both valence holes and conduction electrons, we analyze the direct optical transitions across the band gap, and expose the interactions responsible for subtle features of the local dispersion relations. 

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