Alex McLeod

Alexander McLeod
Assistant Professor, School of Physics and AstronomyContact
Physics And Nanotechnology Building Room 354,30-lab 115 Union St. SeMinneapolis, MN 55455
Affiliations
Education
Doctor of Philosophy in Physics with honors, University of California San Diego, 2017
Bachelors of Arts in Physics and Astrophysics cum laude, University of California Berkeley, 2009
Professional Background
Columbia Nano Initiative Director’s Fellow, Columbia University, Dept. of Physics, 2020
Graduate Student Researcher, University of California San Diego, Dept. of Physics, 2017
Assistant Optical Engineer, Bruker Nano-Surfaces Division, 2013
Site Lead: Network for Computational Nanotechnology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Molecular Foundry, 2010
My research interests include studying phase transitions in quantum matter and the opto-electronics of next-generation 2-dimensional materials including graphene, dichalcogenide semiconductors, and van der Waals heterostructures. To accomplish these investigations, I devise, construct, and and apply novel nano-optical imaging and spectroscopy instruments for measurements at low temperature and under controlled environments. Moreover, I develop flexible theoretical and analysis frameworks to draw quantitative results from experimental data.
Honors and Awards
Co-Investigator on NASA Award – Laboratory Analysis of Returned Samples, Contamination-free & non-destructive nano-spectroscopy of aqueous alteration products in returned samples, 2019-2022
Research Project, Nano-optics of strained correlated electron oxides
Research Project, Low-temperature polaritonics and opto-electronics of two-dimensional materials
Research Project, Theory and interpretation of near-field optical microscopy
Instrument Development, Design and operation of a cryogenic scanning near-field optical microscope.
Doctoral Thesis, Quantitative Near-Field Spectroscopy of Heterogeneous and Correlated Electron Oxides