Seunghun Lee

Seunghun Lee

Ph.D., 1996, Johns Hopkins
Commonwealth Professor of Physics

Experimental Condensed Matter Physics

sl5eb@Virginia.EDU
Office 322B JBL
924-7959
Website

Research Interests

My research focuses on strongly correlated materials such as non-conventional high temperature superconductors, quantum magnets, frustrated spin systems, magnetic molecules, and multiferroics. The main experimental techniques that the group uses are elastic and inelastic neutron scattering with which one can directly probe the many body response function. Neutron scattering experiments are performed at several domestic and international facilities. My group also has the in-house capability of growing high quality single crystals of transition metal oxides using a state-of-the-art image furnace. Recently, my group is also working to understand the physics of new solar cell perovskites.

When I am not doing research, I enjoy practicing Ashtanga yoga and writing essays in Korean.

 

Courtesy appointment at the East Asia Center: http://eastasiacenter.as.virginia.edu/faculty

Google Scholar Website: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DvAH1AEAAAAJ

 

Interest/activities in the field of Humanities

- Interview with Prof. Paik, Nak-chung 1 & 2

- Conversation as a panelist with Ambassador of the Republic of Korea Lee Soo-Hyuck on September 17, 2020. In this video, my conversation with him starts at 58:10.

Symposia on Korea organized: 

2. KINU-UVA Symposium on Korea held in March 2019: https://millercenter.org/news-events/events/end-korean-war-peace-peninsula

1. UVA Symposium on Korea held in September 2018: https://politics.virginia.edu/symposiumonkorea/

 

Special Course:  EGMT 1540: Science and Politics: http://gened.as.virginia.edu/egmt-1540-ethical-engagements

 

Selected Publications

  1. "Freezing of a disorder induced spin liquid with strong quantum fluctuations", Xiao Hu, Daniel M. Pajerowski, Depei Zhang, Andrey A. Podlesnyak, Yiming Qiu, Qing Huang, Haidong Zhou, Israel Klich, Alexander I. Kolesnikov, Matthew B. Stone, and Seung-Hun Lee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 017201 (2021).
  2. "Origin of vertical orientation in two-dimensional metal halide perovskites and its effect on photovoltaic performance", Alexander Z. Chen, Michelle Shiu, Jennifer H. Ma, Matthew R. Alpert, Depei Zhang, Benjamin J. Foley, Detlef-M. Smilgies, Seung-Hun Lee & Joshua J. Choi, Nature Communications 9, 1336 (2018).
  3. "Scaling of memories and crossover in glassy magnets", A. M. Samarakoon, M. Takahashi, D. Zhang, J. Yang, N. Katayama, R. Sinclair, H. D. Zhou, S. O. Diallo, G. Ehlers, D. A. Tennant, S. Wakimoto, K. Yamada, G-W. Chern, T. J. Sato, S.-H. Lee, Scientific Reports 7, 12053 (2017).
  4. "Origin of long lifetime of band-edge charge carriers in organic–inorganic lead iodide perovskites", T. Chen, W.-L. Chen, B. J. Foley, J. Lee, J.P.C. Ruff, J.Y.P. Ko, C.M. Brown, L. W. Harriger, D. Zhang, C. Park, M. Yoon, Y.-M. Chang, J.J. Choi, and S.-H. Lee, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences  114, 7519-7524 (2017).
  5. "Entropy Driven Structural Transition and Kinetic Trapping in Formamidinium Lead Iodide Perovskite", T. Chen, B. J. Foley, C. Park, C. M. Brown, L. L. Harriger, J. Lee, J. Ruff, M. Yoon, J. J. Choi, and S.-H. Lee, Science Advances 2, e1601650 (2016).
  6. "Aging, memory and nonhierachical energy landscape of spin jam", A. Samarakoon, T. J. Sato, T. Chen, G-W. Chern, J. Yang, I. Klich, R. Sinclair, H. Zhou, and S.-H. Lee, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences  113, 11806-11810 (2016).
  7. "Orbital Glass State of the Nearly Metallic Spinel Cobalt Vanadate”, R. Koborinai, S. E. Dissanayake, M. Reehuis, M. Matsuda, T. Kajita, H. Kuwahara, S.-H. Lee, and T. Katsufuji, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 037201 (2016).
  8. “Rotational dynamics of organic cations in the CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite”, T. Chen, B. J. Foley, B. Ipek, M. Tyagi, J. R. D. Copley, C. M. Brown, J. J. Choi and S.-H. Lee, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 17, 31278-31286 (2015).
  9. “Spin jam induced by quantum fluctuations in a frustrated magnet”, Junjie Yang, Anjana Samarakoon, Sachith Dissanayake, Hiroaki Ueda, Israel Klich, Kazuki Iida, Daniel Pajerowski, Nicholas P. Butch, Q. Huang, John R. D. Copley, and Seung-Hun Lee, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 112, 11519-11523 (2015).
  10. “Glassiness and exotic entropy scaling induced by quantum fluctuations in a disorder-free frustrated magnet”, I. Klich, S.-H. Lee, and K. Iida, Nature Communications 5, 3497 (2014).
  11. “Coexisting order and disorder hidden in a quasi-two-dimensional frustrated magnet”, K. Iida, S.-H. Lee, and S-W. Cheong, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 217207 (2012).
  12. “Magnetic excitations in the low-temperature ferroelectric phase of multiferroic YMn2O5 using inelastic neutron scattering”, J.- H. Kim, M. A. van der Vegte, A. Scaramucci, S. Artyukhin, J.- H. Chung, S. Park, S- W. Cheong, M. Mostovoy, and S.- H. Lee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 097401 (2011).
  13. “Inelastic neutron scattering study of the magnetic fluctuations in Sr2RuO4”, K. Iida, M. Kofu, N. Katayama, J. Lee, R. Kajimoto, Y. Inamura, M. Nakamura, M. Arai, Y. Yoshida, M. Fujita, K. Yamada, and S.- H. Lee, Phys. Rev. B 84, 060402 (2011).
  14. “Ferromagnetically coupled Shastry-Sutherland quantum spin singlets in (CuCl)LaNb2O7”, C. Tassel et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 167205 (2010).
  15. “Zero-doping state and electron-hole asymmetry in an ambipolar cuprate”, K. Segawa et al., Nature Physics, 6, 579-583 (2010)
  16. “Universal magnetic structure of the half-magnetization phase in Cr- based spinels”, M. Matsuda et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 047201 (2010)
  17. “Spin-lattice order in frustrated ZnCr2O4”, S. Ji et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 037201 (2009)
  18. “Magnetic field-induced phase transitions in a weakly coupled s = ½ quantum spin dimer system Ba3Cr2O8”, M. Kofu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 177204 (2009)
  19. “Hidden quantum gap state in the static stripe phase of La2-xSrxCuO4”, M. Kofu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 047001 (2009)
  20. “Weakly coupled s = ½ quantum spin singlets in Ba3Cr2O8”, M. Kofu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 037206 (2009)
  21. “External magnetic field effects on a distorted kagome antiferromagnet”, J.-H. Kim et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 107201 (2008)
  22. “Quantum spin liquid states in the two dimensional kagome antiferromagnets, ZnxCu4-x(OD)6Cl2”, S.-H. Lee et al., Nature Materials 6, 853 (2007)
  23. “Spin-lattice instability to a fractional magnetization state in the spinel HgCr2O4”, M. Matsuda et al., Nature Physics 3, 397 (2007)
  24. “Statics and dynamics of incommensurate spin order in a geometrically frustrated antiferromagnet CdCr2O4”, J.-H. Chung et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 247204 (2005)
  25. “Orbital and spin chains in ZnV2O4”, S.-H. Lee et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 156407 (2004)
  26. “Emergent excitations in a geometrically frustrated magnet”, S.-H. Lee et al., Nature 418, 856 (2002)

News Items

In magnets, spins of electrons can interact with their neighbors due to the overlap of their wavefunctions and the Pauli exclusion principle leading to an effective exchange interaction ......More >
From UVaToday: In a roundabout way, University of Virginia chemical engineering associate professor Joshua J. Choi and Commonwealth Professor of Physics Seung-Hun Lee ......More >
Seung-Hun Lee co-organized the inaugural UVA Symposium on Korea as a part of his Pavilion Seminar, “Science & Politics.” During the Symposium, which was held in September, three ......More >
Thin films based on two-dimensional metal halide perovskites have achieved exceptional performance and stability in numerous optoelectronic device applications. Simple solution processing of ......More >
Twisting Molecule Wrings More Power from Solar Cells Inside a solar cell, sunlight excites electrons. But these electrons often don’t last long enough to go on to power cell ......More >
When sunlight shines on a semiconducting material, electrons in the material can be excited from their original states to higher energy states, forming photo-excited electrons and leaving empty ......More >
From UVaToday: "... scientists and engineers at the University of Virginia, with colleagues at the NIST Center for Neutron Research, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Cornell ......More >
Understanding how memory emerges from a complex network of neurons in our brain remains a challenging task in cognitive science.  Memory also arises in physical systems with complex energy ......More >
Lee's group presented experimental evidence for the existence of a topological spin state called spin jam. When magnetic moments are interacting with each other in a situation resembling ......More >
Our theorist, Israel Klich, and experimentalist, Seung-Hun lee, have worked together to solve a long-standing problem in condensed matter physics regarding a glassy state in some frustrated ......More >
The paper "Investigation of the Spin-Glass Regime between the Antiferromagnetic and Superconducting Phases in Fe1+ySexTe1-x" was one of the top twenty papers downloaded from the Journal of the ......More >
In the October 2010 APS News:"To me, this challenges the integrity of science... They say theyreached these conclusions that have enormous consequences on thepolitical and international ......More >
The highest temperature superconductivity has been found when asmall fraction of electrons was added or removed from Mottinsulators where strong electron-electron repulsion ......More >

Honors

APS Fellow [2013]
For contributions towards understanding spin and orbital physics in geometrically frustrated magnets using neutron scattering.

Departmental Committees

Undergraduate Scholarships and Fellowships Committee (Member)

Committee on Teaching (Member)

Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Student Award Committee (Member)