PANCHANANA KHUNTIA
Assistant Professor
Email: pkhuntia@iitm.ac.in
Phone: +91-44-2257 4847
Office : HSB 119A
Quantum Materials Group Homepage
Area of Research
Experimental Condensed Matter
Research Interest
Exploring charge, spin, and orbital degrees of freedom of electrons in strongly correlated electron materials is at the forefront of modern condensed matter physics research. Nurturing a deeper insight into emergent behavior of strongly correlated electron systems with a view towards attaining clarity of thought and completeness of understanding. This might enormously contribute towards a better understanding of emerging physical phenomena such as spin liquids, Skyrmions, quantum criticality, unconventional superconductivity, metal insulator transition, and localization in interacting systems. Our research theme includes Synthesis of emerging quantum materials, spin-glass, high Tc superconductors, spin polarized, and functional materials and their investigation using Magnetization, Specific heat, NMR, mSR, and Neutron scattering. Novel quantum materials are of special importance in view of their exotic physical phenomena stemming from the low lying collective spin excitations and understanding the magnetic properties of these quantum materials is essential as this is a prerequisite to enhance our knowledge in addressing many fundamental issues of condensed matter and for potential applications. For instance, magnetization and NMR results establish a magnetic phase diagram of a novel helimagnet. NMR and magnetization results on a cubic helimagnet (Skyrmion lattice) hold special significance in understanding chiral modulations, anisotropic interactions, and spin dynamics in the Skyrmion lattice. Our comprehensive investigation reveals an unusually large modulation of hyperfine fields at the magnetic site of a disordered Heusler alloy in zero field, which would act as a precursor to the observed giant exchange bias in the field-cooled state of this class of materials. The Skyrmion lattice Chiral magnet and Heusler alloys are ideal candidates for potential applications in advanced high density magnetic data storage devices.
In particular, we are interested in
(1) Synthesis and Growth of Novel Quantum Materials potential to host exotic Quantum States and materials those hold immense promise for Technological Applications.
(2) Low Temperature (as low as miliKelvin) and high field (sweep magnetic field as high as 60Tesla) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
(3) Advanced Thermodynamics
(4) Muon Spin Relaxation (as low as 20 mK and in magnetic field)
(5) Neutron Diffraction and Inelastic Neutron Scattering (as low as 50 mK and in magnetic field)
(6) Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy
(7) Surface-Interface Phenomena in Quantum Materials
Publication: 36 [1 Nature Materials, 1 Nature Physics, 3 Physical Review Letters, 14 Phys. Rev. B including 6 Rapid Communications and 3 Editors Suggestions]. Click here for Full Publication list.
Award/Fellowship/Recognitions
Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship
US Department of Energy Fellowship
Max Planck Fellowship
European Union Network of Excellence Fellowship
Outstanding Reviewer, Institute of Physics, UK
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR, India) Fellowship
MHRD, India Fellowship
National Merit Scholarship
Professional Activities
Referee for American Physical Society Journals (Phys. Rev. Lett., Phys. Rev. X, etc.)
Referee for Institute of Physics (UK) journals
Referee for American Institute of Physics.
Editorial Board member of Frontiers in Physics
Adjudicator: IOP and Elsevier Journals
Reviewer for European Commission Project Proposals
Reviewer for Russian Science Foundation
Reviewer for Department of Science and Technology, India
Member of Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter, USA
Selected Publications
1. Gapless ground state in the archetypal quantum kagome antiferromagnet ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2: P. Khuntia, M. Velazquez, Q. Barthelemy, F. Bert, E. Kermarrec, A. Legros, B. Bernu, L. Messio, A. Zorko, P. Mendels, Nature Physics (2020).
2. Design of compensated ferrimagnetic Heusler alloys for giant tunable exchange bias: Ajaya K. Nayak, Michael Nicklas, Stanislav Chadov, Panchanana Khuntia, Chandra Shekhar, Adel Kalache, Michael Baenitz, Yurii Skourski, Veerendra K. Guduru, Alessandro Puri, Uli Zeitler, and Claudia Felser, Nature Materials 14, 679 (2015).
3. Contiguous 3d and 4f Magnetism: Strongly Correlated 3d Electrons in YbFe2Al10: P. Khuntia*, P. Peratheepan, A. M. Strydom, Y. Utsumi, K.-T. Ko, K.-D. Tsuei, L. H. Tjeng, F. Steglich and M. Baenitz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 216403 (2014).
4. Spin Liquid State in the 3D Frustrated Antiferromagnet PbCuTe2O6: NMR and Muon Spin Relaxation Studies: P. Khuntia*, F. Bert, P. Mendels, B. Koteswararao, A. V. Mahajan, M. Baenitz, F. C. Chou, C. Baines, A. Amato, and Y. Furukawa, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 107203 (2016).
5. Symmetry Reduction in the Quantum Kagome Antiferromagnet Herbertsmithite; A. Zorko, M. Herak, M. Gomilsek, J. van Tol, M. Velazquez, P. Khuntia, F. Bert, and P. Mendels, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 017202 (2017).
6. Field tuned critical fluctuations in YFe2Al10: Evidence from magnetization, 27Al (NMR, NQR) investigations: P. Khuntia*, A.M. Strydom, L. S. Wu, M. C. Aronson, F. Steglich, and M. Baenitz, Phys. Rev. B 86, 220401 (R) (2012) [Rapid Communications & Editors Suggestion ].
7. Spin liquid state in the disordered triangular lattice Sc2Ga2CuO7 revealed by NMR: P. Khuntia*, R. Kumar, A. V. Mahajan, M. Baenitz, and Y. Furukawa, Phys. Rev. B 93, 140408(R) (2016) [ Rapid Communications].
8. Bose-Einstein Condensation of Triplons in the S = 1 Tetramer Antiferromagnet : A Compound Close to a Quantum Critical Point; B. Koteswararao, P. Khuntia, R. Kumar, A.V. Mahajan, A.Yogi, M. Baenitz, Y. Skourski, and F. C. Chou, Phys. Rev. B 95, 180407(R) (2017) [Rapid Communications].
9. 31P NMR investigations on the ferromagnetic quantum critical system YbNi4P2: R. Sarkar, P. Khuntia, C. Krellner, C. Geibel, F. Steglich, and M. Baenitz, Phys. Rev. B 85, 140409(R) (2012) [Rapid Communications].
10. Spin liquid behaviour in Jeff = 1/2 triangular lattice, T. Dey, A.V. Mahajan, P. Khuntia, M. Baenitz, B. Koteswararao and F.C. Chou, Phys. Rev. B 86, 140405(R) (2012) [Rapid Communications].
11. Sc2Ga2CuO7: A possible quantum spin liquid near the percolation threshold: R. Kumar, P. Khuntia, D. Sheptyakov, P. G. Freeman, H. M. Ronnow, B. Koteswararao, M. Baenitz, M. Jeong, and A. V. Mahaja, Phys. Rev. B 92, 180411(R) (2015) [Rapid Communications].
Teaching
Autumn 2019: Physics 1010 Classical Mechanics: Physics I (Coordinator)
Spring 2019: PH1020 Electromagnetic Theory: Physics II
Autumn 2018: Physics 1010 Classical Mechanics: Physics I
Spring 2018: PH1020 Electromagnetic Theory: Physics II
Autumn 2017: Physics 1010 Classical Mechanics: Physics I
Spring 2017: PH1020 Electromagnetic Theory: Physics II
Spring 2017: PH5340: M. Tech. Solid State Physics Laboratory
Autumn 2016: PH5060 Physics Laboratory I
Autumn 2016: EP4500 Elective
Research Group
Currently, our group consists of 4 PhD students, and a couple of Post-Doctoral Fellows and undergraduates.
We are always looking for bright, highly motivated and hardworking students (B.Tech/BS/MS/MSc/M.Tech/PhD) who want to dive into the world of Experimental Condensed Matter.
We also welcome bright, highly motivated and hardworking post-doctoral candidates with independent fellowships (CSIR/SERB-National-PDF, DST) or through IIT Madras Institute Post-doctoral Fellowship. Candidates with PhD in Experimental Condensed Matter particularly strong background in the synthesis/growth of magnetic and superconducting materials will be preferred. Send me an email with your CV if you have common research interest.
Collaborations
We have strong collaboration with renowned Condensed Matter Physics Groups.
National Collaborators
Condensed Matter and Material Science Groups at IIT Madras
Prof. Avinash V. Mahajan, IIT Bombay
Several Condensed Matter Groups within India
International Collaborators
Prof. Dr. Frank Steglich, Max Planck Institute, Germany
Prof. Dr. Michael Baenitz, Max Planck Institute, Germany
Prof. Dr. Manuel Brando, Max Planck Institute, Germany
Prof. Ferdinando Borsa, Univ. of Pavia, Italy and Ames Laboratory, Department of Energy, USA
Prof. Yuji Furukawa, Ames Laboratory, Department of Energy, USA
Prof. Philippe Mendels, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, France
Prof. Fabrice Bert, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, France
Prof. Edwin Kermarrec, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, France
Prof. Dr. Andrej Zorko, Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia
Muon group at
Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxford
Neutron Group at
Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland
Institut of Laue-Langevin, France
And
Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory
We also have collaboration with renowned Condensed Matter groups at national level and groups at Max Planck Institute, Oxford, Ames, Orsay, Augsburg, Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Funding Agencies
We are very thankful to the following funding
agencies for their generous support in our research efforts.