Heterostructure Device
UF Undergraduates Benefit from Alumni-Supported Summer Research Experience
Supported by a gift from alumnus Professor Chris Schaffer, UF undergraduates Oscar Barrera and David Mendez were able to participate in laboratory research during summer 2021.
Oscar is working with Professor Imre Bartos on deciphering the origin of the heaviest black hole that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has discovered. He is exploring the possibility that this massive black hole was actually assembled from the previous collision of several smaller black holes. This scenario is possible in the centers of galaxies where many black holes gather in a small volume. Oscar’s research reverse-engineered the masses of ancestral black holes whose consecutive mergers could have led to the observed heaviest black hole. He also found indications that a black hole among this previous generation may itself be the product of a black hole merger. Such multi-generational black hole evolution has not been previously identified.
Working with Professor Xiao-Xiao Zhang, David fabricated nanoscale devices based on atomically thin two-dimensional materials. David obtained monolayers of tungsten-diselenide, graphite and few-layer hexagonal boron nitrides through mechanical exfoliation. He then employed the polymer-based 2D material pickup technique to build a five-layer heterostructure device (see photo), which allows electrical field tuning and doping control of the monolayer semiconducting tungsten-diselenide.
