Hodovanets Quantum Materials Lab

Have you ever looked at the periodic table and realized that everything in our lives, us included, is made up of the elements from the periodic table? Solid state physics explains why certain elements and their combination form different structures and whether the new material will be stable. Our group’s research focuses on the synthesis and discovery, characterization, and optimization of novel quantum materials in a single crystalline form. Among those are Dirac and Weyl semimetals, superconductors, antiferro- and ferromagnets, magnetocaloric, and thermoelectric materials. We are interest in the exotic electronic and quantum states of matter that are realized in quantum materials that can be tuned with chemical substitution, magnetic field, or application of pressure.

News

May 8, 2025: Ashton, Emma, and Gage presented their first year research at the 2025 Fuller Prize competition for Undergraduate Research at the Department of Physics.

May 5, 2025: Ashton, Emma, Gabe and Gage presented their first year research at the FYRE poster showcase. Good job!

April 12, 2025: Halyna and Jayashani educated elementary school children and their families on elements from the periodic table and quantum materials at the Truman Elementary Carnival, Rolla.

April 10, 2025: Halyna and Jayashani educated middle school children and their families on elements from the periodic table and quantum materials at the Rolla Middle school’s STEAM night.

February 22, 2025: Jayashani talked about quantum materials to general public at the St. Louis science center.

October 2024: Undergraduate FYRE students, Emma Espinosa, Ashton Matthews, Gage Spaid, and Gabriel Duncan (co-advised with Dr. Kim), joined the group. Welcome!

August 26, 2024: Jayashani passed the Qualifying exam. Congratulations!

June 17-20, 2024: Halyna and Jayashani led Quantum Materials Summer Camp at the Kaleidoscope Discovery Center!

May 1st: Elim presented a poster about his research at the FYRE showcase. Well done!

March 2024: Halyna was selected as one of the 2024 Outstanding Referees by the American Physical Society.

May 3rd and May 4th: Kelci presented a poster at the FYRE showcase and the Fuller prize competition, respectively. Well done!

August 1st, 2023: Halyna received the NSF LEAPS-MPS award.

December 2022: Our largest and coolest toy, Oxford 12 T, 1.5 K-base temperature Teslatron, has arrived and is being installed.

November 2022: Kelci Graville has been accepted into First Year Research Experience (FYRE) program. Kelci will learn how to use hydrogen and oxygen torch and high-temperature flux technique to grow single crystals of rare-earth containing quantum materials and study their fascinating properties. Congratulation!

October 2022: Kelci Graville, a freshman undergraduate physics student, joined the group. Welcome, Kelci!

August 2022: Undergraduate students Samuel Hunt (OURE), Matthew Miller, and Shawn Rottinghaus joined the group. Welcome!

June 2022: Two undergraduate students, Dillon McNamara and Jacob Mizeur, joined the group. Welcome!

January 1st, 2022: Dr. Halyna Hodovanets joined the Department of Physics at Missouri University of Science and Technology

Contact: halyna.hodovanets@mst.edu