Prof. Dr. Michel Kenzelmann

Michel Kenzelmann received a D.Phil. from Oxford University in 2001, working on topological quantum magnetism under the guidance of Prof. Roger Cowley. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University and NIST (USA) from 2001 and 2004 where he studied studying quantum magnetism and magnetically-indued ferroelectricity under the guidance of Prof. Broholm. From 2004 to 2008, he held a professor fellowship of the Swiss National Science Foundation at ETH Zürich. From 2008 to 2017 he led the Laboratory for Scientific Developments and Novel Materials, and since 2017 the Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging at the Paul Scherrer Institut. In 2014 he became a titular professor at the University of Basel.

His research interests focus on materials with strong magnetic fluctuations, such as low-dimensional and frustrated magnets, multiferroics, and unconventional heavy-fermion superconductors. The common thread among these materials is that strong electronic fluctuations lead to qualitatively novel phases. A conceptually simple example includes magnetically-induced ferroelectrics where competing magnetic interactions lead to complex magnetic structure that are incompatible with the underlying chemical structure, generating a ferroelectric distortion in the process. In insulating low-dimensional magnets, or frustrated magnetic topologies, novel phases with strongly-fluctuation magnetism can emerge that are strongly-correlated and quantum coherent over macroscopic length scales. Competing interactions in metallic materials, such as Kondo lattices, can lead to novel superconducting phases with little-understood microscopic mechanisms. Prof. Kenzelmann studies these phenomena using thermodynamic methods and large scale facilities with a focus on neutron scattering.

1. N. Leo, V. Carolus, J.S. White, M. Kenzelmann, M. Hudl, P. Toledano, T. Honda, T. Kimura, S.A. Ivanov, M. Weil, T. Lottermoser, D. Meier, and M. Fiebig, Magnetoelectric inversion of domain patterns, Nature 560, 466 (2018).
2. R. Sibille, N. Gauthier, H. Yan, M. Hatnean, J.Ollivier, B. Winn, U. Filges, G. Balakrishnan, M. Kenzelmann, N. Shannon and T. Fennell, Experimental signatures of emergent quantum electrodynamics in Pr2Hf2O7, Nature Physics 14, 711 (2018).
3. D.G. Mazzone, R. Yadav, M. Bartkowiak, J.L. Gavilano, S. Raymond, E. Ressouche, G. Lapertot, M. Kenzelmann, Distinct domain switching in Nd0.05Ce0.95CoIn5 at low and high fields, Sci. Rep. 8, 1295 (2018).
4. D.G. Mazzone, S. Ryamond, J.L. Gavilano, P. Steffens, A. Schneidewind, G. Lapertot, M. Kenzelmann, Spin resonance and magnetic order in an unconventional superconductor, Phys. Rev. Lett. 199, 187002 (2017).
5. R. Sibille, E. Lhotel, M.C. Hatnean, G.J. Nilsen, G. Ehlers, A. Cervelino, E. Ressouche, M. Frontzek, O. Zaharko, V. Pomjakushin, U. Stuhr, H.C. Walker, D.T. Adroja, H. Luetkens, C. Baines, A. Amato, G. Balakrishnan, T. Fennell, M. Kenzelmann, Coulomb spin liquid in an anion-disordered pyrochlore Tb2Hf2O7, Nat. Commun. 8, 892 (2017).
6. T. Honda, J.S. White, A.B. Harris, L.C. Chapon, A. Fennell, B. Roessli, O. Zaharko, Y. Murakami, M. Kenzelmann & T. Kimura, Coupled multiferroic domain switching in the canted conical spin spiral system Mn2GeO4, Nat. Commun. 8, 15457 (2017).
7. D.G. Mazzone, S. Raymond, J.L. Gavilano, E. Ressouche, C. Niedermayer, J.O. Birk, B. Ouladdiaf, G. Bastien, G. Knebel, D. Aoki, G. Lapertot, M. Kenzelmann, Field-induced magnetic instability within asuperconducting condensate, Sci. Adv. 3, e1602055 (2017).
8. M. Kenzelmann, Exotic magnetic states in Pauli-limited superconductors (invited review article), Rep. Prog. Phys. 80, 034501 (2017).
9. S. Gerber, M. Bartkowiak, J.L. Gavilano, E. Ressouche, N. Egetenmeyer, C. Niedermayer, A.D. Bianchi, R. Movshovich, E.D. Bauer, J.D. Thompson and M. Kenzelmann, Switching of magnetic domains reveals evidence for spatially inhomogeneous superconductivity, Nature Physics 10, 126 (2014).
10. M. Kenzelmann, Th. Strässle, C. Niedermayer, M. Sigrist, B. Padmanabhan, M. Zolliker, A. D. Bianchi, R. Movshovich, E. D. Bauer, J. L. Sarrao, and J. D. Thompson, Coupled Superconducting and Magnetic Order in CeCoIn5, Science 321, 1652 (2008).
11. A.D. Bianchi, M. Kenzelmann, L. DeBeer-Schmitt, J.S. White, E.M. Forgan, J. Mesot, M. Zolliker, J. Kohlbrecher, R. Movshovich, E.D. Bauer, J.L. Sarrao, Z. Fisk, C. Petrovic, and M.R. Eskildsen, Superconducting Vortices in CeCoIn5 - towards the Pauli-limiting field, Science 319, 177 (2008).
12. M. Kenzelmann, G. Lawes, A.B. Harris, G. Gasparovic, C. Broholm, A.P. Ramirez, G.A. Jorge, M. Jaime, S. Park, Q. Huang, A. Ya. Shapiro, and L.A. Demianets, Direct transition from a disordered phase to an incommensurate multiferroic on a triangular lattice, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 267205 (2007).
13. M. Kenzelmann, A.B. Harris, S. Jonas, C. Broholm, J. Schefer, S.B. Kim, C.L. Zhang, S.-W. Cheong, O.P. Vajk and J.W. Lynn, Magnetic inversion symmetry breaking and ferroelectricity in TbMnO3, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 087206 (2005).
14. M. Kenzelmann, R.A. Cowley, W.J.L. Buyers, R. Coldea, J.S. Gardner, M. Enderle, D.F. McMorrow and S.M. Bennington, Multiparticle states in the S=1 chain system CsNiCl3, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 017201 (2001).