Armitage Group

About Us:

The Armitage lab at Johns Hopkins University uses various 'optical' techniques to investigate a variety of complex condensed matter systems. The main interest of the group is exotic electronic states of matter at low temperatures, including exotic superconductors, novel magnetic states, electronic glasses, topological systems, and materials in proximity to quantum critical points.

We have developed a number of low-energy optical spectroscopies in the so-called 'Terahertz gap' - the experimentally difficult frequency region above that attainable with electronics, but below that accessible with optics (photonics). This frequency range is host to many phenomena in condensed matter systems and is a frontier in 'optical' and condensed matter research. Among other apparatuses, we implemented novel ways of doing THz polarimetry where we can use the rotation of THz light’s polarization to give essential information about material dynamics. An emerging new area is nonlinear THz spectroscopy.

We are members of the Institute for Quantum Matter(IQM). IQM is a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Princeton University funded by the DOE, which seeks to expose and understand materials dominated by quantum coherence and correlations. IQM combines chemical synthesis, advanced spectroscopy, and theoretical analysis for new fundamental understanding of interacting many-body systems.

The Armitage lab is located in the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. The address is 3701 San Martin Dr, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218. The best way to find Bloomberg is to avoid the main campus on Charles St, and instead, travel on San Martin Drive. Bloomberg is directly across the street from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Once you've located Bloomberg, head straight down to the 0th floor and look for lab 033 to find us.