Staff information
Dr Amit Kumar
Centre for Nanostructured Mediaemail: a.kumar@qub.ac.uk
Tel: 028 9097 3511
Fax: 028 9097 3110
Room LG052
Department of Physics and Astronomy
School of Maths and Physics
Queen's University Belfast
BT7 1NN
Amit Kumar joined the Centre for Nanostructured Media in the School of Maths and Physics as a lecturer in 2013. He has a broad background in nonlinear optical characterization of ferroics and scanning probe microscopy for imaging functionality in materials. He obtained a PhD titled "Spin-charge-lattice coupling in multiferroics and strained ferroelectrics" under the guidance of Prof Venkatraman Gopalan at Pennsylvania State University, USA. The central focus of the thesis was to develop an understanding of the coupling between spin, charge and lattice in ferroics using nonlinear optics and scanning probe microscopy. He developed confocal SHG microscopy to visualize domain structures in ferroelectrics. He joined Oak Ridge National Lab in the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences as a postdoctoral fellow in 2010 where he developed advanced scanning probe techniques for imaging functional properties in functional materials.
Over the past seven years, the nanoscale study of functional materials forms a concurrent theme of his research ranging from ferroic oxides for data storage applications, piezoelectric materials for MEMS applications to fuel cell electrolytes for energy storage devices. The goal is the investigation of the underlying physics driving the functionality of these materials that can allow knowledge driven design of materials for practical applications.
