Leo McGilly

Photo Leo McGilly

received a Msci in Physics from Queen’s University Belfast in 2008 and subsequently completed his Ph.D studies in 2011 at the same institute investigating novel ferroelectric domain states such as flux closure and vortices with nanostructures fabricated through focused ion beam microscopy.

From 2012 to 2016 he held a post-doctoral research position at the Ceramics Laboratory at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. Work completed during this time sought to bring new functionalities to oxide electronics through manipulation and control of ferroic domain walls using advanced scanning probe microscopies such as conductive atomic force microscopy and piezoresponse force microscopy.

Central to this work is the nanoscale engineering of controlled defect regions via low-dose focused Ga+ ion beams and the fabrication of novel electrode designs through electron-beam induced deposition.

In 2017 Leo McGilly joined the Pasupathy group at the Department of Physics at Columbia University working on 2D materials. Current research interests include searching for novel ferroic phases in group-IV monochalcogenides.