Kelly Luo, Gabilan Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at USC Dornsife, will receive $1 million over five years through the U.S. Army Research Office’s Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Luo’s research centers on “altermagnets,” materials just a few atoms thick that hold potential for dramatically miniaturizing future electronics.

The award recognizes Luo’s work controlling magnetism with voltage, which she believes could lead to faster, more energy-efficient devices; “This award gives our group sustained support to explore how controlling magnetism with voltage could lead to faster, more energy-efficient electronics and memory devices,” Luo said. If endorsed by the President, Luo would become the second USC Dornsife faculty member to earn the related PECASE award, following Moh El-Naggar in 2014.

Altermagnets and Voltage Control Enable Next-Generation Electronics

Altermagnets, materials only a few atoms thick, present a pathway to denser electronic components due to their minimal external magnetic field; this characteristic allows for closer placement of components without interference. Kelly Luo’s team will investigate pairing these altermagnets with ferroelectric materials, testing if a voltage-induced electrical switch in the ferroelectric layer can also rearrange magnetism within the altermagnet. Successful manipulation could establish a magnetic state sustained without continuous power input, significantly reducing energy consumption in future devices.

Luo’s research builds on a recent advance in controlling magnetism, an important step toward its application in future technologies. The team’s approach involves applying a brief voltage to a ferroelectric material, switching its electrical polarity and maintaining that new position even after the voltage is removed; the core question is whether this electrical switch can also reconfigure the magnetism of the adjacent altermagnet, similar to how shaking an etch-a-sketch alters its image.

This investigation is supported by a five-year, $1 million award from the U.S. Army Research Office, recognizing Luo’s work in opto-spintronics and quantum magnetism. The potential impact of this research extends beyond energy efficiency. A colleague said that more efficient electronics and quantum sensors are just two possibilities, with unforeseen applications likely to emerge.

He was a quiet, patient, older gentleman who would stay after school to answer my endless questions about why a ball rolls downhill or how electric charges move.

Opto-Spintronics Research Connects Light and Spin in Graphene

Graphene, a material composed of single-atom-thick carbon sheets, is the conduit for this information transfer, potentially enabling faster and more energy-efficient devices. Moh El-Naggar, Dean’s Professor of Physics and Astronomy, remains the sole other Dornsife faculty member to have received a PECASE award, earning the distinction in 2014.

Luo’s recent work, published in Science in 2025, detailed a device capable of detecting the rapid motion of atomic magnets within antiferromagnetic materials and demonstrated that voltage could control the rate at which this motion diminishes. As a graduate student, Luo recalled a formative experience with a mentor, stating, “He was a quiet, patient, older gentleman who would stay after school to answer my endless questions about why a ball rolls downhill or how electric charges move.

I am deeply honored by this recognition and grateful for the Army Research Office’s confidence in our work.

ARO ECASE Award Supports Ultrafast Magnetic Activity Studies

The Army Research Office award will enable detailed testing of voltage control over magnetism in layered materials. The magnetic activity under investigation occurs at frequencies ranging from gigahertz to terahertz, billions to trillions of cycles per second, suggesting potential for high-frequency signal processing and compact sensors.

The extremely thin nature of the magnetic layers also offers the possibility of densely packed components on a chip, further miniaturizing electronic devices. Ultrasensitive optical microscopy and ultrafast measurement techniques developed in Luo’s lab will be important for detecting subtle magnetic changes and tracking the rapid spin motion within the materials.

The research extends beyond simply demonstrating a phenomenon. The team will focus on integrating this control into a functional device. They will assess the reliability of voltage-induced magnetic changes and develop methods for reading and controlling these states. “Kelly is a rising star and a key part of USC Dornsife’s strength in quantum science and technology,” a colleague noted, highlighting the broader impact of this work. The potential applications span memory chips, computing systems and communications technologies, suggesting a broad impact if the approach proves scalable and effective.