“Science at its purest transcends borders, politics and arbitrary biases – it is a pursuit of truth powered by imagination, guided by evidence and never short of wonder.”
Nina Markovic
Associate ProfessorPhysics & Engineering Science
Nina Markovic earned her B.S. in physics from the University of Zagreb in Croatia in 1993 and her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1998. After completing postdoctoral research at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and at Harvard University, she served as a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University from 2003 until joining Goucher College in 2015.
Markovic conducts experimental research in condensed matter physics, focusing on quantum transport in low-dimensional systems, superconductivity in nanostructures, and novel platforms for quantum computing. She teaches a wide range of introductory and advanced courses in physics and engineering.
Research, Scholarship, Creative Work in Progress
Markovic’s research focuses on quantum transport in low dimensional systems, which involves describing the behavior of electrons in systems such as ultrathin films, nanowires and nanoscale devices. Specifically, she has studied the interplay of superconductivity and localization in thin films and nanowires with a focus on the quantum phase transitions and applications in quantum computing, charge density waves in quasi-one-dimensional systems, spin and charge transport in carbon nanotube quantum dots, and quantum transport in graphene and topological insulators. She has collaborated with chemists and materials scientists to utilize electrostatic force microscopy for probing charge transport in carbon nanotubes, DNA, semiconductor quantum dot arrays and organic semiconductors. The current projects involve using the custom-designed methods to fabricate and characterize novel artificial structures with physical dimensions on the nanometer scale, with a focus on tailoring and tuning the texture of the superconducting order parameter. This is achieved by controlling the underlying potentials and the boundary conditions through size, geometry and electrostatic or proximity coupling to other materials. The main goal is to create and control new quantum states, contribute to fundamental understanding of quantum matter, and harness the quantum degrees of freedom for exciting new applications.
Publications
Mlack, J. T., Rahman, A., Danda, G., Drichko, N., Friedensen, S., Drndic, M., & Marković, N. (2017). Patterning superconductivity in a topological insulator. ACS Nano, 11, 5873.
Marković, N. (2015). Randomness rules. Science, 350, 509.
Morgan-Wall, T., Leith, B., Hartman, N., Rahman, A., & Marković, N. (2015). Weber blockade in superconducting nanowires. Physical Review Letters, 114, 077002.
Rahman, A., Guikema, J. W., Hassan, N. M., & Marković, N. (2015). Angle-dependent transmission of Dirac electrons in graphene heterojunctions. Applied Physics Letters, 106, 013112.
Rahman, A., Guikema, J. W., & Marković, N. (2014). Asymmetric scattering of Dirac electrons and holes in graphene. Nano Letters, 14, 6621.
Rahman, A., Guikema, J. W., & Marković, N. (2014). Quantum interference noise near the Dirac point in graphene. Physical Review B, 89, 235407.
Morgan-Wall, T., Hughes, H. J., Hartman, N., McQueen, T. M., & Marković, N. (2014). Fabrication of sub-15 nm aluminum wires by controlled etching. Applied Physics Letters, 104, 173101.
Mlack, J. T., Rahman, A., Johns, G. L., Livi, K. J. T., & Marković, N. (2013). Substrate-independent catalyst-free synthesis of high-purity Bi₂Se₃ nanostructures. Applied Physics Letters, 102, 193108.
Lecover, R., Williams, N., Marković, N., Reich, D. H., Naiman, D. Q., & Katz, H. E. (2012). Next-generation polymer solar cell materials: Designed control of interfacial variables. ACS Nano, 6, 2865.
Dhar, B. M., Kini, G. S., Xia, G., Jung, B. J., Marković, N., & Katz, H. E. (2010). Field-effect-tuned lateral organic diodes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107.
Merchant, C. A., & Marković, N. (2009). Photoresponse of carbon nanotube films with Schottky contacts. Nanotechnology, 20, 175202.
Wasserman, J. L., Lucas, K., Lee, S. H., Ashton, A., Crowl, C. T., & Marković, N. (2008). Fabrication of one-dimensional programmable-height nanostructures via dynamic stencil deposition. Review of Scientific Instruments, 79, 073909.
Merchant, C. A., & Marković, N. (2008). Effects of diffusion on photocurrent generation in single-walled carbon nanotube films. Applied Physics Letters, 92, 243510.
Lee, S. H., Zhu, F. Q., Chien, C. L., & Marković, N. (2008). Effect of geometry on magnetic domain structure in Ni strips with perpendicular anisotropy. Physical Review B, 77, 132408.
Merchant, C. A., & Marković, N. (2008). Electrically tunable spin polarization in a carbon nanotube spin diode. Physical Review Letters, 100, 156601.
Crankshaw, D., Segall, K., Nakada, D., Orlando, T. P., Levitov, L. S., Lloyd, S., Valenzuela, S. O., Marković, N., Tinkham, M., & Berggren, K. K. (2004). DC measurements of macroscopic quantum levels in a superconducting qubit structure with a time-ordered meter. Physical Review B, 69, 144518.
Drndic, M., Markov, R., Jarosz, M. V., Bawendi, M. G., Kastner, M. A., Marković, N., & Tinkham, M. (2003). Imaging the charge transport in arrays of CdSe nanocrystals. Applied Physics Letters, 83, 4008.
Tinkham, M., Free, J. U., Lau, C. N., & Marković, N. (2003). Hysteretic I-V curves of superconducting nanowires. Physical Review B, 68, 134515.
Patents
Marković, N., Merchant, C. A., & Medford, J. R. (2015). Bent carbon nanotubes and methods of production (U.S. Patent No. 9,056,777).
Jermyn, A., Silverman, J. D., & Marković, N. (2016). System for lightweight image processing (U.S. Patent No. 2013/0064458).
External Awards, Honors, Grants
Fellow of the American Physical Society, 2016.
NSF DMR grant, Designing Quantum Matter with Superconducting Nanowires, $430,000, 2015–2020.
DOE grant, Molecularly Designed Localized Static Charging for Energy Efficiency in Organic Electronics (with three investigators), $825,000, 2013–2016.
NSF DMR grant, Spin Control in One-Dimensional Quantum Dots, $443,000, 2011–2014.
NSF grant, P-N Interface Probing and Design for Organic/Hybrid Photovoltaics and Circuit Components (with three investigators), $350,000, 2008–2012.
NSF CAREER grant, Quantum Phase Transitions and Dissipation in Superconducting Nanowires, $500,000, 2006–2011.
Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, $40,000, 2004–2006.
NSF NER grant, Superconductor-Nanotube Entangler, $100,000, 2004–2005.
Invited Talks
ICSM/ICQMT, Fethiye, Turkey (May 2024).
From condensed matter to biophysics, Dubrovnik, Croatia (June 2022).
QNF Meeting, Singh Center, University of Pennsylvania (October 2019).
Condensed Matter Seminar, CUNY Graduate Center, New York (March 2019).
Condensed Matter Seminar, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (March 2019).
Superstripes 2016, Ischia, Italy (June 2016).
March Meeting of the American Physical Society, Baltimore, Maryland (2016).
Academic or Professional Associations
American Physical Society
Other Professional or Scholarly Activity
Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports, Nature Publishing Group.
Member of the Physics Evaluation Group of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS) Proposal Review Committee
National Science Foundation Proposal Review Panels and program site visits (more than 20)
Frequent ad hoc reviewer for NSF, DOE, and physics journal publications.