Dr. Saurabh Srivastav received his BSc (Hons) in Physics from Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India in 2015; after which, he joined the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, India as an Int. PhD student. He completed his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Anindya Das. His PhD thesis was focused on understanding the edge structure of the several integers and fractional quantum Hall (QH) phases realized in graphene-based devices. With the novel understanding that by measuring the transport coefficients, one can determine the topological quantum numbers of edge modes and hence the bulk topological order of the integer and fractional quantum Hall (QH) phases. Dr. Srivastav mainly focused his research on the measurement of the quantized thermal Hall conductance instead of the conventional electrical conductance measurement in an effort to provide additional insight, which is limited in electrical conductance measurement. By measuring the thermal conductance of hole conjugate states in the asymptotic limit of the thermal equilibrations, Dr. Srivastav successfully measured the exact number of the topological edge modes of these phases in graphene, answering a question which previously remained open for decades. His PhD research offers an efficient route to determine the exact topological order of non-abelian fractional quantum Hall states.

 

In his postdoctoral research at the Weizmann Institute of Science hosted by Prof. Eli Zeldov, Dr. Srivastav is utilizing the SQUID-on-tip magnetic and thermal imaging techniques to explore the novel electronic phases realized in two-dimensional materials and their hybrid devices.