Charles H. Ahn, recently named as the John C. Malone Professor of Applied Physics, focuses his research on the fabrication and characterization of the physical properties of materials using advanced synthesis and measurement techniques, such as molecular beam epitaxy and synchrotron x-ray experiments.
Ahn’s laboratory controls materials by manipulating structural configurations via the growth of films that can be as thin as a single atomic layer. Doing so allows the researchers to modify the physical properties of a material for tailored physics and technological applications, such as designing novel properties of superconductors, revealing hidden phases in magnetic materials, and designing materials with properties that would not otherwise exist in nature.
A graduate of Harvard College, Ahn earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford University. Following postdoctoral research at the University of Geneva, he began his academic career as an assistant professor of applied physics at Yale. In addition to his new post, Ahn chairs the Department of Applied Physics and holds secondary appointments as professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and professor of physics. He was previously the William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Applied Physics.
