About

Philip Kim is a Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics at Harvard University, affiliated with the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. His primary teaching areas include Applied Physics. His research areas encompass applied physics, materials, quantum engineering, surface and interface science, and related fields. Kim's work involves exploring superconducting electrons in twisted graphene, developing fabrication methods to facilitate materials discovery, and tuning electrochemical insertion processes for improved batteries. His contributions focus on advancing understanding in materials science, quantum engineering, and applied physics, with a particular emphasis on superconductivity and nanomaterials.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Condensed matter physics
• Quantum mechanics
• Physics
• Nanotechnology
• Chemistry
• Optoelectronics
• Electrical engineering
• Composite material
• Urology
• Geometry
• Chemical physics
• Optics
• Physical chemistry
• Medicine
• Surgery
• Organic chemistry

Selected publications

• Bilayer Wigner crystals in a transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructure

  Nature · 190 citations

  • Condensed matter physics
  • Materials science
  • Physics

  Abstract One of the first theoretically predicted manifestations of strong interactions in many-electron systems was the Wigner crystal1–3, in which electrons crystallize into a regular lattice. The crystal can melt via either thermal or quantum fluctuations4. Quantum melting of the Wigner crystal is predicted to produce exotic intermediate phases5, 6 and quantum magnetism7, 8 because of the intricate interplay of Coulomb interactions and kinetic energy. However, studying two-dimensional Wigner crystals in the quantum regime has often required a strong magnetic field9–11 or a moiré superlattice potential12–15, thus limiting access to the full phase diagram of the interacting electron liquid. Here we report the observation of bilayer Wigner crystals without magnetic fields or moiré potentials in an atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructure, which consists of two MoSe2 monolayers separated by hexagonal boron nitride. We observe optical signatures of robust correlated insulating states at symmetric (1:1) and asymmetric (3:1, 4:1 and 7:1) electron doping of the two MoSe2 layers at cryogenic temperatures. We attribute these features to bilayer Wigner crystals composed of two interlocked commensurate triangular electron lattices, stabilized by inter-layer interaction16. The Wigner crystal phases are remarkably stable, and undergo quantum and thermal melting transitions at electron densities of up to 6 × 1012 per square centimetre and at temperatures of up to about 40 kelvin. Our results demonstrate that an atomically thin heterostructure is a highly tunable platform for realizing many-body electronic states and probing their liquid–solid and magnetic quantum phase transitions4–8, 17.

  DOI

• A few-layer covalent network of fullerenes

  Nature · 2023 · 261 citations

  • Materials science
  • Nanotechnology
  • Chemistry
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reoperation rates for stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse in women after undergoing Mid-Urethral sling with or without concomitant colporrhaphy in academic centers within the United States

  Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology · 2022 · 1 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Medicine
  • Urology
  • Surgery

  Our data can be used by surgeons to counsel patients on the risks of re-operation for SUI for those who would like to undergo concurrent POP repair with or without hysterectomy.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Torsional periodic lattice distortions and diffraction of twisted 2D materials

  Nature Communications · 2022 · 44 citations

  • Physics
  • Condensed matter physics
  • Materials science

  .

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Electrically Tunable Valley Dynamics in Twisted <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>WSe</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo>/</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>WSe</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math> Bilayers

  Physical Review Letters · 2020 · 149 citations

  • Physics
  • Materials science
  • Condensed matter physics

  The twist degree of freedom provides a powerful new tool for engineering the electrical and optical properties of van der Waals heterostructures. Here, we show that the twist angle can be used to control the spin-valley properties of transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers by changing the momentum alignment of the valleys in the two layers. Specifically, we observe that the interlayer excitons in twisted WSe_{2}/WSe_{2} bilayers exhibit a high (>60%) degree of circular polarization (DOCP) and long valley lifetimes (>40 ns) at zero electric and magnetic fields. The valley lifetime can be tuned by more than 3 orders of magnitude via electrostatic doping, enabling switching of the DOCP from ∼80% in the n-doped regime to <5% in the p-doped regime. These results open up new avenues for tunable chiral light-matter interactions, enabling novel device schemes that exploit the valley degree of freedom.

  DOI

• Tuning Electrical Conductance of MoS₂ Monolayers through Substitutional Doping

  Nano Letters · 2020 · 178 citations

  • Materials science
  • Optoelectronics
  • Nanotechnology

  in the absence of electrostatic gating is reproducibly tuned over 7 orders of magnitude by controlling the Nb concentration. Our study further indicates that the dopant carriers do not fully ionize in the 2D limit, unlike in their three-dimensional analogues, which is explained by weaker charge screening and impurity band conduction. Moreover, we show that the dopants are stable, which enables the doped films to be processed as independent building blocks that can be used as electrodes for functional circuitry.

  DOI

Recent grants

• DMREF/Collaborative Research: Designing, Understanding and Functionalizing Novel Superconductors and Magnetic Derivatives

  NSF · $240k · 2014–2017

• NSF BSF: Transport, Fluctuation, and Nonequilibrium Phase Transition in Atomically Thin Crystalline Van der Waals Superconductors

  NSF · $648k · 2018–2023

• DMREF: Collaborative Research: The Search for Novel Superconductors in Moire Flat Bands

  NSF · $875k · 2019–2023

• EFRI 2-DARE: Quantum Optoelectronics, Magnetoelectronics and Plasmonics in 2-Dimensional Materials Heterostructures

  NSF · $2.1M · 2015–2019

• CAREER: Mesoscopic Thermal and Thermoelectric Transport in Low Dimensional Materials

  NSF · $450k · 2004–2009

Frequent coauthors

• Patrick Y. Wen

  225 shared

• Kenji Watanabe

  National Institute for Materials Science

  202 shared

• Takashi Taniguchi

  199 shared

• David A. Reardon

  Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

  175 shared

• J. Raizer

  Columbia University

  175 shared

• Brian Hu

  Loma Linda University

  173 shared

• Meng Li

  Peking University People's Hospital

  156 shared

• D. Schiff

  University of Pittsburgh

  125 shared

Similar researchers at Harvard University

• Walter C Willetth-429
• JoAnn E Mansonh-359
• Randy L. Bucknerh-268
• Edward Giovannuccih-267
• Kristen Andersonh-263