Dr Fasil Dejene

  • Lecturer in Physics
  • Member of the Equality and Diversity Committee

Dr Fasil Dejene studied Physics Education (2005), Msc Physics (2008) in Ethiopia, and Top Master Nanoscience (2010) in the Netherlands at the University of Groningen, where he also obtained his Physics doctoral degree in 2015. From 2015 until he joined Loughborough University (2018), he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (Halle/Saale, Germany). He is also a visiting researcher at Technische universität Dresden, Germany.

Particles in a solid can have various degrees of freedoms (charge, spin and valley). The interplay between charge and heat transport (thermoelectricity) and charge and spin (spintronics) are, for instance, two examples which led to numerous applications in solid-state cooling and magnetic data storage technologies. We investigate these coupling effects in metallic, semi-metallic and insulating materials in the bulk as well as low dimension materials (graphene, WTe2, CrI3 etc) for new functionality of nanoelectronic devices. Some of the research directions are:

Thermoelectricity

  • Thermal transport in two-dimensional van der Waals materials
  • Quantum transport, anomalous Nernst and Hall effects

Spintronics

  • Spin-polarized currents in local nanopillar spin valves
  • Pure spin current transport in metallic and two-dimensional materials
  • Spin transport across magnetic/non-magnetic interfaces
  • Spin to charge interconversion in Pt/Y3Fe5O12

Spin caloritronics

  • Electrical and thermal generation of spin-currents
  • Two-dimensional spin caloritronics in van der Waals materials
  • Spin Seebeck and spin Peltier effect in metallic spin valves and Pt/Y3Fe5O12 interfaces
  • Magnetic control non-equilibrium heat transport

Dr Dejene is involved with the Loughborough University outreach project "Life Through A Lens", developing fun hands-on activities inspired by the physics of imaging to encourage young people to explore scientific phenomena and support them to gain a deeper understanding of where these subjects might take them. Activities are supported by the Institute of Physics and can be adapted for age five and upwards for use at national science festivals, school visits and community groups. For more information: www.lboro.ac.uk/life-through-lens

  • PHC012 - Quantum Physics
  • PHB207 - Electronics