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Ranga Dias

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
  • Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE)

PhD, Washington State University, 2013

220 Hopeman
(585) 276-4112
rdias@rochester.edu

Website


Biography:

Professor Ranga Dias received his B.S. from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2006 and his Ph.D. in physics from Washington State University in 2013. He joins the University of Rochester after a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Physics at Harvard University, where he investigated the quantum phenomena in hydrogens at extreme conditions. Dias is an internationally recognized scientist in the field of high pressure physics, and his work has also been reported in popular press, e.g. New York Times, BBC, NBC, NPR, Physics Today, New Scientist, Chemistry World, Science News, and Nature News and Views.

 

Research Overview

Professor Dias’ research focuses on materials at extreme pressure and temperature conditions, where materials alter their properties in many fundamental ways. Thus, they provide exciting opportunities for one to discover new materials, novel phenomena, and exotic states of matter that are not present at the ambient conditions. His main interests are high temperature superconductivity, magnetism, and superfluidity in the vicinity of quantum phase transitions. His research efforts not only address fundamental understanding but are also directed towards utilizing high pressure and temperature conditions to understand chemical processes and interactions to synthesize novel advanced materials, such as high energy density materials, superhard solids, and quantum materials.

 

Representative Publications

  1. Ranga P. Dias, Isaac F. Silvera
“Observation of the Wigner-Huntington Transition to Solid Metallic Hydrogen” Science 355, 715-718 (2017)
  2. Ranga P. Dias, Ori Noked, Isaac F. Silvera
“New Phases and Dissociation-Recombination of Hydrogen Deuteride to 3.4 Mbar” Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 145501 (2016)
  3. Ranga P. Dias, Minseob Kim, Choong-Shik Yoo “Structural transitions and metallization in dense GeS” Phys. Rev. B. 93, 104107 (2016)
  4. Ranga P. Dias, Minseob Kim, Yasuo Ohishi, Takehiro Matsuoka, Jing Chen, Choong-Shik Yoo, “Pressure-Induced Transformations of Dense Carbonyl Sulfide to Singly Bonded Amorphous Metallic Solid”
Nature Sci.Rep. 6, 31594 (2016) R.D. and M.K. contributed equally as co-first authors 

  5. Ranga P. Dias, Choong-Shik Yoo, Viktor V. Struzhkin, Minseob Kim, Takaki Muramatsu, Takahiro Matsuoka, Yasuo Ohishi, Stainislav Sinogeikin 
“Superconductivity in highly disordered dense carbon disulfide”
 Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 110, 11720-11724 (2013) 


Research Interests

  • High Temperature superconductivity
  • Quantum phase transitions
  • Dynamic response of solids
  • Novel material synthesis
  • High pressure NV optical magnetometry
  • High energy density physics