Johnston Research Group
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Prof. Steven Johnston
I am the Dr. Elizabeth M. Bains and Dr. James A. Bains Professor of Physics and Astronomy and a member of the University of Tennessee's Institute for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing (IAMM) and Center for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing (CAMM). My research interests lie in condensed matter physics with a focus on applying numerical methods to strongly correlated electrons, multi-orbital systems, and electron-phonon interactions. I have a specific interest in studying high-temperature superconductivity in several families of materials. My group's work frequently makes direct contact with spectroscopies such as angle-resolved photoemission, scanning tunneling microscopy, optical conductivity, and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, and collaborate closely with experimentalists to unravel the meaning of results obtained using these advanced techniques.
Brief Vita
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Current Group Members
Dr. Benjamin Cohen-Stead
Researcher Professor — Dr. Cohen-Stead completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis before joining the group as a post-doctoral researcher in 2022. He is now a research professor in the Department, an expert in quantum Monte Carlo simulations, and the lead developer for the SmoQy Suite.
Dr. Mithilesh Nayak
Post Doctoral Fellow — Mithilesh completed his Ph.D. at EPFL in Switzerland. His current research interests lie in simulating the spectral functions and studying the dynamics of strongly correlated systems using methods based on matrix product states.
Jinu Thomas
PhD Student — Jinu is a physics Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His current research interests lay in modeling resonant inelastic x-ray scattering experiments using advanced numerical methods and their application to studying quantum magnetism and superconductivity in low-dimensional systems.
James Neuhaus
PhD Student — James is a physics Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His current research interests lay in applications of quantum Monte Carlo methods to modeling resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectra.
Andy Tanjaroon Ly
PhD Student — Andy is a physics Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. His current research interests include using Variational Monte Carlo in conjunction with machine learning to investigate strongly correlated electron systems, such as high-Tc cuprates.
Sohan Malkaruge Costa
PhD Student — Sohan is a physics Ph.D. Student at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His current research interests lay in simulating condensed matter systems using advanced numerical methods and mean field approximation.
Debshikha Banerjee
PhD Student — I am a physics Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research interest lies in investigating correlated electron systems with the help of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering using advanced numerical techniques. Currently, she is focusing on understanding the physics of SSH-like electron-phonon interactions using DMRG methods.
Shruti Agarwal
PhD Student — Shruti is a PhD student and Bains Fellow working on electron-phonon interactions in the context of strongly correlated systems like the Hubbard model. She is interested in gaining an intuitive visualisation of how these interactions contribute to different novel quantum materials.
Shreekant Gawande
PhD Student — Shreekant is a physics PhD student at UT Knoxville. Broadly, his research interests lie in computational physics. Currently, he is working on linearly scaling semi-classical approaches to study correlated electronic systems.