Nicholas Dale - "Altermagnets for a Sustainable Future"
SLAM Finalist 3Q4- Nicholas Dale
How did you initially get interested in science?
At an early age while watching James Bond movies I got excited about the gadgets Q made to aid 007 in his many adventures. Later, when my sister majored in physics, I wanted to follow in her footsteps and took a high school physics class where I enjoyed being confused about frisbees and bicycles. Thanks to meeting Wim Leemans at the right time, I fell in love with the experience of working with a team to predict Nature using Math and then testing it with lasers designed for the Death Star.
What is your favorite place at the Lab?
There are too many to count, but I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Building 88 synchrotron, which still has the same tech since its construction in the 60s. I love seeing how big machines worked before the transistor took over.
Most memorable moment at the Lab?
I was very lucky to have my first and most memorable impression of the Lab be through meeting Wim Leemans. Wim is is certainly responsible for building some part of the temple of Science– he has both the long-term foresight to drive huge instrumentation projects, the charisma to inspire a large group of people to work on them, and the kindness to let a silly college kid dwell in his oasis for a summer or two. I think about him most days at the Lab.
What are your hobbies or interests outside the Lab?
Outside the Lab, I enjoy finding ways to get in touch with my senses. I love how bouldering can get me excited about making a single movement with my body, how singing with others gets me to listen for breath, how sticking my nose in a wine glass can bring up the images of tennis balls and oak trees, and how all of these are ways to connect with others.
Nick's Script - "Altermagnets for a Sustainable Future"
Walk up music: Both Sides Now, UCLA Medleys A Cappella [opb Joni Mitchell]
“I’ve looked at life from both sides now
from win and lose
and still somehow
it’s life’s illusions I recall…”
Nick enters stage wearing a fictitious backpack, sets it down onstage, and begins to speak.
Some of you probably went on a camping trip this summer. Have you noticed how much has changed in the past 20 years? Your map, camera, and bedtime storyteller now all fit on your wrist, and can sound like Scarlett Johannsen.
The sheer amount of compute power on your wrist has more serious implications. In war, computational advantage now determines who WINs and who LOSEs. This has driven an exponential growth in global demand for compute power, increasing so quickly that within 15 years we will surpass global energy production. The power will run out.
How can we use our brains to get us out of this crisis? Wait, how does our brain compute? Computers in general perform two basic functions: logic and memory. Logic processes the information in 1s and 0s and sends it a long long way to memory, as UP and DOWN on billions of tiny little switches. Sending this information costs a LOT of energy and time. Our brains actually found a way to drop this energy cost by a factor of 50. How did they do it? In a neuron, logic and memory are in the same place.
I work with a new type of magnet, an ALTERmagnet, which can compute like a neuron. Unlike in conventional magnets, the magnetic clouds around the atoms of an ALTERmagnet ALTERnate as you move from one atom to the next. This splits the spin conduction pathways in the material in real space. So when you attach two wires and apply a voltage this way, the material sends the message “GIVE” and when you switch the wires to this way, the material sends the signal “TAKE”. So it can perform logic. Great! But it can also store the information in the direction of magnetic clouds in the material, whether they are UP or DOWN. Just like that, we’ve mimicked a neuron, putting logic and memory into a cube a few atoms wide. At least in principle. These things were discovered this year.
Thanks to Berkeley Lab, I have all the tools to find the best ALTERmagnet for a sustainable future. Using Berkeley Lab supercomputers I can predict the shapes of magnetic clouds when I arrange the atoms in different patterns, and using an electron microscope I can directly probe the shape of the clouds in real life. By looking at the clouds from both sides now, we can live a little longer to ponder life.
Gurjyot Sethi - "An Inspiration from Plants: Excitonic Superfluid"
SLAM Finalist 3Q4- Gurjyot Sethi
How did you initially get interested in science?
I owe my interest in science to my mom. I grew up watching her go through her PhD, always surrounded by these big books on microbiology. She was also teaching science to high-school kids back then. It all really inspired me. I wanted to be like her when I grew up. I still do.
What is your favorite place at the Lab?
Stairs near the 70-A entrance. For some reason sitting there admiring the view makes me really calm and happy.
Most memorable moment at the Lab?
It’s definitely my first hike up from Campanile Esplanade to the Badge office in Berkeley Lab to get my new Lab ID. I was taken by the view but I was so not prepared for the uphill hike. I made my friends stop for water at least 4 times, and I took a lot of pictures.
What are your hobbies or interests outside the Lab?
I have been playing a lot of pickleball recently. I occasionally go rock climbing. I am a big foodie, so naturally I am attracted to all kinds of restaurants, and I think the diverse food options in the area help a lot.