Associate Professor Raffi Budakian has been named the John Bardeen Faculty Scholar in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics, an appointment that will continue indefinitely.
Budakian, who works in experimental condensed matter physics, has been extensively published in peer-reviewed journals and has delivered more than 50 invited lectures the world over. His research has focused on single nuclear spin detection and imaging using magnetic resonance force microscopy, ultra-sensitive force/displacement detection, and design and fabrication of micro and nano-mechanical devices.
Most recently, Raffi Budakian (
http://physics.illinois.edu/people/profile.asp?budakian) and his students have achieved high-resolution Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy by using a highly sensitive silicon nanowire mechanical oscillator as a low-temperature nuclear magnetic resonance force sensor. With this new technology Budakian’s research group presented last year, it is now possible to perform 3D nanometer scale magnetic resonance imaging with 10-nanometer resolution, far beyond the millimeter resolution of medical MRI. Ultimately, with further radical advancements to this technology, 3D imaging of single molecules would become a possibility.
Another area of his research is geared toward applying high resolution low temperature magnetic force microscopy to study strongly correlated condensed matter systems. This includes the study of vortex matter in unconventional superconductors, strongly correlated magnetic materials, and developing techniques for imaging surface currents.
Budakian is also an excellent teacher, invested in providing physics students with an exceptional learning experience. In 2007, Budakian took on a two-year project, working to modernize the lab experiments in Physics 401 Classical Mechanics Laboratory, to introduce upper division physics students to advanced experimental techniques.
Budakian earned his bachelor's (1994 summa cum laude), master's (1995), and doctoral (2000) degrees in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. He remained at UCLA as a postdoctoral fellow for two years. From 2002 to 2005, he worked as a visiting scientist at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA, where his research focused on detecting the spin of a single defect in glass using magnetic resonance force microscopy. In 2005, he was named a Fellow of the World Technology Network when he was selected for the World Technology Award in materials, presented for single spin detection by magnetic resonance force microscopy (2005). He was named a Fellow of the U. of I. Center for Advanced Study in 2010/11.
The John Bardeen Faculty Scholar in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics is sponsored by the Sony Corporation. This award is presented to faculty members relatively early in their careers who excel in their research, teaching, and service contributions to the College of Engineering and the University.