Pankaj Sharma

Dr Pankaj Sharma is an experimental condensed matter physicist with a strong focus and expertise in nanoscale materials science and engineering. Pankaj received his doctorate from the University of Nebraska Lincoln in 2013 under the supervision of Charles Mach Professor of Physics Alexei Gruverman. After a brief postdoctoral stint at the University of Nebraska during which he established and validated a new device design of electron tunnel junction memory under the framework of an industry project funded by Semiconductor Research Corporation (CNFD), in 2015, he moved to UNSW Sydney to work with Prof. Jan Seidel. From 2017 to 2020, he was a member and research fellow at the NSW node of ARC's Centre of Excellence in Future Low Energy Electronics Technologies, and in 2021, was promoted to the position of a Lecturer (Materials Sci & Eng, UNSW). During this time span, Pankaj pioneered new research directions and technological innovations within the field, e.g. low-energy domain wall memory and the discovery of a new class of electronic materials first predicted in the 1960's by the Nobel Laureate physicist Philip Anderson.

Dr Sharma's research interests include the development and utilization of cutting-edge scanning probe microscopy and spectroscopic techniques for the investigation of advanced functional materials, surfaces and interfaces at the nanometre scales for technological applications in low-energy data storage, agile nanoelectronics, sustainable energy harvesting and biomedical devices & implants.

The research focuses on advanced material systems and devices made of, e.g. (multi-) ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, oxide heterostructures, 2D van der Waals materials, halide perovskites, solar cells, battery materials, and related electronic and energy materials among others.