Mikhail Katsnelson

Host

Olle Eriksson

Bibliography

Prof. Mikhail Katsnelson was born in 1957 in Magnitogorsk, an industrial city in Southern Ural (USSR). After studying theoretical physics in Ural State University he was working in the Institute of Metal Physics in Ekaterinburg. From 2004 he is professor of theory of condensed matter at Radboud University, Nijmegen (Netherlands). Main works are on physics of two-dimensional materials, magnetism, spectroscopy and strongly correlated systems. His main scientific achievements include quantitative theory of magnetic interactions in solids, a novel and very popular approach to the first-principle calculations of electronic structure of strongly correlated systems (density functional theory plus dynamical mean-field theory, DFT+DMFT), quantum many-body theory of half-metallic ferromagnetism, as well as development of basic concepts in the physics of graphene (Klein and anti-Klein tunneling, strain-induced pseudomagnetic fields, relativistic collapse of supercritical charges, minimal conductivity via evanescent waves, intrinsic ripples and their role in chemical and mechanical properties).
Prof. Katesnelson has been awarded several prizes, including Spinoza Prize (top scientific award in Netherlands) and Hamburg Prize for Theoretical Physics. He is knight of the Order of Netherlands Lion, elected member of Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academia Europaea, Uppsala Royal Scientific Society, and honorary doctor of Uppsala University.

Research question

I am dealing with a broad circle of problems in condensed matter physics and materials science but three subfields should be specially mentioned: (1) two-dimensional materials; (2) magnetism and magnetic materials; (3) strongly correlated materials. In all of these cases, I am very much interested in developing the way from basic and seemingly abstract laws of quantum physics to explanations and predictions of properties of real materials.

Sustainability aspects

In two-dimensional materials, I was especially strongly involved in studies of graphene, from their very beginning. I participated in many applied works on graphene, including chemical sensors, tunneling transistors, and chemistry of graphene. I believe that the works on hydrogenation of graphene and on penetration of hydrogen through graphene membrane which we still continue have especially serious potential, e.g., for extraction hydrogen from air and hydrogen energetics.

In magnetism, we develop a general approach allowing to compute basic magnetic properties of materials from the laws of quantum mechanics. In combination with contemporary machine learning tools they can be used for screening of the list of possible magnetic materials and for creating novel materials with desired properties, for example for replacing expensive rare earth elements by something more economically favorable, or for the increase of Curie temperature of magnetic semiconductors.

We are also working hardly on optical properties of two- and three-dimensional materials, including very difficult case of strongly correlated systems. This can be important for the development of such fields as photonics and plasmonics, with a perspective of information processing with much lower energy consumption than in traditional electronics.