Chris Leighton is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, a Distinguished University Teaching Professor, and a graduate faculty member in Physics at the University of Minnesota (UMN). Following a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics at the University of Durham in the UK (1994), and a Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics at the same institution (1998), he pursued post-doctoral research at UC San Diego under Prof. Ivan Schuller (1998-2001). He joined the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science faculty at UMN in 2001 as an Assistant Professor, rising to Associate Professor in 2007, and Professor in 2011. His research deals with electronic and magnetic properties of novel materials including complex oxides, oxide heterostructures, metallic spintronics, electrolyte gating, and earth-abundant photovoltaics. He has authored over 250 publications, which have accumulated almost 17,000 citations. He has received honors that include Fellowship in the American Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Neutron Scattering Society of America, the Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and UMN’s Morse-Alumni Association Teaching Award, Taylor Career Development Award, McKnight Presidential Fellowship, Taylor Distinguished Research Award, Distinguished McKnight University Professorship, Tate Award for Undergraduate Advising, and membership in the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He serves as Director of the UMN MRSEC, as well as Lead Editor of Physical Review Materials.
Research Description
Electronic and magnetic materials are the central focus of the Leighton Group's research. We study a wide variety of materials, such as nanostructures, thin films, heterostructures, bulk polycrystals, and single crystals. We focus on topics with a strong fundamental science component that are in close proximity to applications in technology, including data storage and processing and electronic devices. Projects in our group feature fabrication of films and crystals, detailed structural and chemical characterization, and in-depth measurement by numerous techniques, including transport, neutron and X-ray scattering, magnetometry, and heat capacity. Our work is highly collaborative, and we are involved in two UMN centers: the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and the DOE Center for Quantum Materials.
Current research projects include:
(i) Electrolyte gating of functional materials
(ii) Perovskite oxide films and heterostructures, particularly cobaltites
(iii) Metallic delafossite materials, especially PdCoO2 and PdCrO2
(iv) Metallic spin transport, particularly in non-local spin valves
(v) Transition metal sulfides, including the photovoltaic FeS2 and the Mott insulator NiS2