2 March 2022
Oxford Instruments Announces Selection of Dr. James Nakamura of Purdue University as the Winner of the 2022 Lee Osheroff Richardson (LOR) Science Prize
Dr. James Nakamura is recognised for the first direct observation of anyonic braiding statistics for quasiparticles at the v=1/3 fractional quantum Hall state. Dr. Nakamura’s experimental results substantiate theoretical predictions made nearly forty years ago by Wilczek and Halperin, and his work will stand as a high point in the study of topological phases of condensed matter systems.
The Lee Osheroff Richardson Science Prize promotes and recognises the novel work of young scientists working in the fields of low temperatures and/or high magnetic fields or surface science in North and South America.
“It is an honour to receive the Lee Osheroff Richardson Science Prize for 2022. The Prize will enable my group’s research to continue, including investigating other fractions where effective charge and fractional statistics diverge. Thank you to my fellow researchers for working alongside me and to Oxford Instruments for recognising my achievement with such a prestigious Prize.”
Nakamura was first author of a masterful pair of papers published in 2019 and 2020 experimentally demonstrating fractional statistics of the 1/3 state in a quantum Hall interferometer. As a post-doctoral researcher in Michael Manfra’s research group at Purdue University, Nakamura’s experimental results are the most compelling evidence that anyons – particles that are neither bosons nor fermions – may be probed and manipulated in low dimensional strongly interacting electronic systems.
The 2022 LOR Science Prize selection committee is chaired by Professor Bruce Gaulin, McMaster University and includes: Professor Laura Greene, NHMFL and FSU; Professor Hae-Young Kee, Toronto University; Professor Collin Broholm, Johns Hopkins University; Professor Cory Dean, Columbia University and Dr Matthew Yankowitz, U Washington (2021 winner).
Oxford Instruments is aware that there is a critical and often difficult stage for many scientists between completing a PhD and gaining a permanent research position. The company has therefore been helping individuals who are producing innovative work by offering assistance both financially and suitably promoting their research work, through sponsoring the LOR Science Prize for North and South America for the past 14 years. The Prize is named in honour of Professors David M. Lee, Douglas D. Osheroff and the late Robert C. Richardson, joint recipients of The Nobel Prize in Physics 1996 for their discovery of ‘superfluidity in helium-3’.
The previous winners of the LOR Science Prize are Dr Matthew Yankowitz, Dr Sheng Ran, Dr Paula Giraldo-Gallo, Dr Kate Ross, Dr Brad Ramshaw, Dr Mohamad Hamidian, Dr Cory Dean, Dr Chiara Tarantini, Dr Lu Li, Dr Kenneth Burch, Dr Jing Xia, Dr Vivien Zapf, Dr Eunseong Kim, Dr Suchitra Sebastian, Dr Jason Petta and Dr Christian Lupien.
