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Ethan Angerhofer
OVERVIEW
My goal is to be a positive impact in my local community and to contribute to the global physics community through the work I do. In my undergrad I studied both physics and computer science and I plan to leverage both of these in my research. I chose to continue studying physics because I both love learning about this world and teaching others. My end goal is to become a professor and to help future grad students to achieve their goals!
In my undergrad I worked with Professor Christopher Stanton, on two different projects. The first was looking at the reflectivity of semiconductors with thin films. This work appeared in K. Ishioka, E. Angerhofer, C. J. Stanton, G. Mette, K. Volz, W. Stolz, and U. Hofer, Phys. Rev. B105, 035309 (2022), URL https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.035309. I worked on the calculations in the appendix of the paper. The second project involved searching for a theoretical explanation of the reflectivity in GaAs after a laser excitation pulse. I was responsible for developing the software to simulate the theory and display the graphic representations.
Over the summer of 2024, I worked with an applied physics group in the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) department. I learned cleanroom fabrication and worked on creating MEMS resonators. I also took ferroelectric measurements of Scandium doped Aluminum Nitride at 100 °C up to 1000 °C. At the end of the summer I decided to switch to working with Prof. Jiabin Yu because I decided to pursue theory work.
Education
Bachelor of Science in Physics, University of Florida, 2022
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, University of Florida, 2022
Research Interests
The field of condensed matter theory is increasingly focused on modeling strongly correlated many-body systems. These are systems where the interaction between electrons can’t be ignored, as is done in simpler models. One of the most exciting examples of such systems is the Moiré superlattice, a class of materials at the frontier of modern research. These materials exhibit unique physical properties, including band flattening, enhanced electronic correlations, and unconventional superconductivity. Despite their potential, accurately modeling Moiré superlattices and other strongly correlated systems remains a significant challenge.
My goal is to develop a many-body Hamiltonian equation that accurately models and explains experimental results for strongly correlated materials. The current methodology, density functional theory (DFT) calculations give a good one-body Hamiltonian, but we need to figure out what interactions to add to this one-body Hamiltonian to get the full many bodied interactions. The problem is that DFT already includes part of the interaction, and thus we need to carefully choose the interaction to avoid double counting. This fundamental problem of constructing the many-body Hamiltonian has remained open for decades and is in urgent need due to the numerous recent experimental discoveries of various strongly correlated phases in Moiré materials.
Density Fuctional Theory
Moiré Superlattice
Advisor: Prof. Jiabin Yu
Miscellaneous
Physics 1 lab instructor (PHY2053L)
Physics 1 Discussion Section Instructor (PHY2048)
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