Robert Konik
Chair, Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department
Bldg. 734
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
(631) 344-3225
rmk@bnl.gov
Robert Konik joined Brookhaven Lab as a Research Scientist in 2003, with promotions to Assistant Physicist (2004), Associate Physicist (2006), and Physicist (2009). He served as Deputy Chair of the Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Division (CMPMSD) in 2015 and became chair of the division in 2016. He has also been an adjunct professor at Boston College, an associate editor at the journal Physical Review B (since 2008) and has held visiting appointments at the Universiteit van Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Université de Cergy-Pontoise, Paris, France, and the London Centre for Nanotechnology in the United Kingdom.
As chair of CMPMSD, Dr. Konik oversees 60 employees and an annual budget of about $21 million. Scientists in the department study basic, theoretical, and applied aspects of materials, their uses, and their electronic, physical, mechanical, and chemical properties. Their aim is to integrate the knowledge and tools of chemistry and physics with the principles of engineering to understand and optimize material properties, and to create new and improved materials to help fulfill the missions of the Department of Energy.
Expertise | Education | Appointments | Publications | Awards
Expertise
- Low dimensional quantum field theories
- Integrable models
- Non-equilibrium behaviour of quantum systems
- Numerical methods for low dimensional quantum systems
- Machine learning as applied to materials discovery in strongly correlated systems
Education
Robert Konik earned his Ph.D. in low dimensional quantum field theories and their applications to strongly correlated systems in 1998 from Cornell University. A binational Canadian/US citizen, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada in the department of physics at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara from 1997 through 1999. He then joined the University of Virginia as a Research Associate, advancing to Research Scientist in 2001.
Professional Appointments
- 2019, Visiting Scientist, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avenzati, Trieste, Italy
- 2015-2019, Honourary Research Associate, London Centre for Nanotechnology, London, United Kingdom
- 2011-2015, Adjunct Professor, Boston College
- 2009-2010, Visiting Scientist, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- 2008, Visiting Professor, Universite de Cergy-Pontoise, Paris, France
- 2008, INSTANS Visiting Scientist, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- 2008-current, Associate Editor Physical Review B, American Physical Society
Selected Publications
- Konik R (2021) Quantum coherence confined. Nature Physics. doi: 10.1038/s41567-021-01211-5
- James AJA, Konik RM, Robinson NJ (2019) Nonthermal States Arising from Confinement in One and Two Dimensions. Physical Review Letters. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.122.130603
- Tsvelik AM, Konik RM, Prokof'ev NV, Tupitsyn IS (2019) Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering in metals: A diagrammatic approach. Physical Review Research. doi: 10.1103/physrevresearch.1.033093
- Li J, Sun K, Li J, Meng Q, Fu X, Yin W-G, Lu D, Li Y, Babzien M, Fedurin M, Swinson C, Malone R, Palmer M, Mathurin L, Manso R, Chen J, Konik RM, Cava RJ, Zhu Y, Tao J (2018) Probing the pathway of an ultrafast structural phase transition to illuminate the transition mechanism in Cu2S. Applied Physics Letters 113:041904. doi: 10.1063/1.5032132
- Robinson NJ, Altland A, Egger R, Gergs NM, Li W, Schuricht D, Tsvelik AM, Weichselbaum A, Konik RM (2019) Nontopological Majorana Zero Modes in Inhomogeneous Spin Ladders. Physical Review Letters. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.122.027201
- James AJA, Konik RM, Lecheminant P, Robinson NJ, Tsvelik AM (2018) Non-perturbative methodologies for low-dimensional strongly-correlated systems: From non-Abelian bosonization to truncated spectrum methods. Reports on Progress in Physics 81:046002. doi: 10.1088/1361-6633/aa91ea
- James AJA, Konik RM (2015) Quantum quenches in two spatial dimensions using chain array matrix product states. Physical Review B. doi: 10.1103/physrevb.92.161111
- Brandino GP, Caux J-S, Konik RM (2015) Glimmers of a Quantum KAM Theorem: Insights from Quantum Quenches in One-Dimensional Bose Gases. Physical Review X. doi: 10.1103/physrevx.5.041043
Awards & Recognition
Robert Konik became a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2019 for his work on using integrability to understand strongly correlated systems in- and out-of-equilibrium.
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department
Bldg. 734
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
(631) 344-3225
rmk@bnl.gov
