Ion Garate
Ion Garate is a Yale Physics Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University. He was a CIFAR Junior Fellow from 2009 to 2011, supervised by Quantum Materials Fellows Ian Affleck and Marcel Franz in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia. Ion received his PhD in Physics in 2009 from the University of Texas at Austin, under thesis advisor Dr. Allan H. MacDonald, a member of the Quantum Materials Program Advisory Committee. He also holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of the Basque Country, Spain.
Ion is working to advance our theoretical understanding of magnetism and superconductivity, remarkable manifestations of the quantum physics governing the behaviour of electrons in solids. Electrons have an intrinsic magnetic property known as “spin”, and most of Ion’s doctoral research focused on exploring the spin-related changes that occur in tiny magnets when they are connected to wires that carry electricity. These changes, often described as “spin transfer”, are a direct consequence of the quantum nature of electrons. Ion and Allan MacDonald recently predicted the possibility of reorienting or even switching the north and south poles of a very thin magnet by way of an unconventional spin transfer. If successful, their prediction may help design new memory devices for the next generation of computers. Ion is also interested in finding analogies between magnets and superconductors. While they have traditionally been studied as separate disciplines, superconductivity and magnetism share many similarities at a mathematical level. Exploiting these similarities may lead to new theoretical insights.
Ion is working to advance our theoretical understanding of magnetism and superconductivity, remarkable manifestations of the quantum physics governing the behaviour of electrons in solids. Electrons have an intrinsic magnetic property known as “spin”, and most of Ion’s doctoral research focused on exploring the spin-related changes that occur in tiny magnets when they are connected to wires that carry electricity. These changes, often described as “spin transfer”, are a direct consequence of the quantum nature of electrons. Ion and Allan MacDonald recently predicted the possibility of reorienting or even switching the north and south poles of a very thin magnet by way of an unconventional spin transfer. If successful, their prediction may help design new memory devices for the next generation of computers. Ion is also interested in finding analogies between magnets and superconductors. While they have traditionally been studied as separate disciplines, superconductivity and magnetism share many similarities at a mathematical level. Exploiting these similarities may lead to new theoretical insights.