Christopher Homes
Physicist, MET Beamline Scientist, Electronic Structure Technique, National Synchrotron Light Source II

Brookhaven National Laboratory
National Synchrotron Light Source II
Bldg. 741, Room 1L101
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
(631) 344-7579
homes@bnl.gov
Chris joined Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1996 in the Department of Physics as a member of the Electron Spectroscopy Group, moving to the Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, and then finally to the National Synchrotron Light Source II in 2021 as a member of the Electronic Structure Techniques Group, acting as beamline scientist for the 22-IR-2 (MET) infrared and future INF beamline. Chris is also the PI for the Infrared Lab, an off-line facility that supports beamline operations.
Expertise | Research | Education | Appointments | Publications | Awards
Expertise
My expertise is in infrared spectroscopy, optical design, and the optical properties of solids. The infrared region has expanded to include the terahertz through to the visible and ultraviolet, using both conventional and synchrotron light sources with a variety of room temperature, liquid nitrogen and liquid helium cooled detectors. The complex optical properties are obtained from a Kramers-Kronig analysis of the reflectivity that has been determined over a wide frequency range, allowing the electronic and vibrational properties to be studied.
Prior to arriving at Brookhaven, Chris was an NSERC postdoctoral fellow at Simon Fraser University, and a postdoctoral fellow with Tom Timusk at McMaster University, where he was the principal developer of a technique to obtain the absolute reflectivity of small, irregular samples using an overfilling method with in-situ evaporation, an approach that has significantly advanced the field.
Research Activities
My early work was on the optical properties of synthetic metals (Bechgaard salts) and icosahedral quasicrystals; later work focused on the high-temperature cuprate superconductors, identifying the c-axis pseudogap in the optical conductivity, and later developing an eponymous universal scaling relation for the superfluid density that is valid for the vast majority of high-temperature as well as conventional superconductors. The present line of investigation is broadly described as work on correlated electron systems, with special attention on emergent properties such as superconductivity in the copper-oxide and iron-based materials, as well as the Dirac and Weyl semimetals, and more recently, colossal magnetoresistance materials. Density functional theory is also used to predict the electronic properties and optical conductivity, as well as the dispersion of the lattice vibrations.
Post-docs supervised: Jiufeng Tu (CCNY), Sasa Dordevic (Akron), Ana Akrap (Zagreb, Genzel Prize), and Yaomin Dai (Nanjing).
Education
- Ph.D. 1990: Physics, University of British Columbia
- M.Sc. 1986: Physics, University of British Columbia
- B.Sc. (Hons) 1983: Physics, McMaster University
COMMITTEES
NSERC Physics Evaluation Group; Section Chair, Quantum and Condensed Matter Physics
Professional Appointments
2007: Visiting Professor, LPEM, ESPCI, Paris VI
2001 – present: Physicist, (BNL)
1998 – 2001: Associate Physicist (BNL)
1996 – 1998: Assistant Physicist (BNL)
Selected Publications
- Gu Y, Smith KA, Saha A, et al (2024) Unconventional insulator-to-metal phase transition in Mn3Si2Te6. Nature Communications 15:. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52350-1
- Homes CC, Wang Z-C, Fruhling K, Tafti F (2023) Optical properties and carrier localization in the layered phosphide EuCd2P2. Physical Review B 107. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.107.045106
- Dordevic SV, Homes CC (2022) Superfluid density in overdoped cuprates: Thin films versus bulk samples. Physical Review B 105. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.105.214514
- Homes CC (2021) Giant Polarization in Nanodielectrics: (Invited Paper). 2021 IEEE 16th Nanotechnology Materials and Devices Conference (NMDC). https://doi.org/10.1109/nmdc50713.2021.9677542
- Homes CC, Wolf T, Meingast C (2020) Anisotropic optical properties of detwinned BaFe2As2. Physical Review B 102. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.102.155135
- Homes CC, Du Q, Petrovic C, Brito WH, Choi S, Kotliar G (2018) Unusual electronic and vibrational properties in the colossal thermopower material FeSb2. Scientific Reports. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-29909-2
- Akrap A, Hakl M, Tchoumakov S, Crassee I, Kuba J, Goerbig MO, Homes CC, Caha O, Novák J, Teppe F, Desrat W, Koohpayeh S, Wu L, Armitage NP, Nateprov A, Arushanov E, Gibson QD, Cava RJ, van der Marel D, Piot BA, Faugeras C, Martinez G, Potemski M, Orlita M (2016) Magneto-Optical Signature of Massless Kane Electrons inCd3As2. Physical Review Letters. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.117.136401
- Homes CC, Ali MN, Cava RJ (2015) Optical properties of the perfectly compensated semimetalWTe2. Physical Review B 92. doi: 10.1103/physrevb.92.161109
- Homes CC, Dordevic SV, Strongin M, Bonn DA, Liang R, Hardy WN, Komiya S, Ando Y, Yu G, Kaneko N, Zhao X, Greven M, Basov DN, Timusk T (2004) A universal scaling relation in high-temperature superconductors. Nature 430:539–541. doi: 10.1038/nature02673
- Michaelian KH, Jackson RS, Homes CC (2001) Synchrotron infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy. Review of Scientific Instruments 72:4331–4336. doi: 10.1063/1.1416107
- Homes CC, Vogt T, Shapiro SM, Wakimoto S, Ramirez AP (2001) Optical Response of High-Dielectric-Constant Perovskite-Related Oxide. Science 293:673–676. doi: 10.1126/science.1061655
- Homes CC, Timusk T, Liang R, Bonn DA, Hardy WN (1993) Optical conductivity ofcaxis orientedYBa2Cu3O6.70: Evidence for a pseudogap. Physical Review Letters 71:1645–1648. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.71.1645
- Homes CC, Reedyk M, Cradles DA, Timusk T (1993) Technique for measuring the reflectance of irregular, submillimeter-sized samples. Applied Optics 32:2976. doi: 10.1364/ao.32.002976
- Homes CC, Timusk T, Wu X, Altounian Z, Sahnoune A, Ström-Olsen JO (1991) Optical conductivity of the stable icosahedral quasicrystal Al63.5Cu24.5Fe12. Physical Review Letters 67:2694–2696. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.67.2694
Awards & Recognition
- Outstanding Referee, American Physical Society, 2022
- Fellow, American Physical Society, 2008
- Brookhaven Science and Technology Award, 2007

Brookhaven National Laboratory
National Synchrotron Light Source II
Bldg. 741, Room 1L101
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
(631) 344-7579
homes@bnl.gov