Michael J. Manfra

Manfra, a professor of materials engineering and electrical and computer engineering and the Bill and Dee O’Brien Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Science, is a leading condensed matter experimentalist. He is being honored for his field-defining work in quantum physics.

Manfra and his research team reported in 2020 a landmark experiment that found evidence for fractional statistics of quasiparticles called anyons. This was the first time that anyone showed direct evidence of the fractional statistics of anyons since the quasiparticles were first proposed in the early 1980’s, following the discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect in 1982 (awarded a Nobel prize in 1998). 

This advance is an important step in our understanding of the physics of quasiparticles, which are particle-like entities that emerge from complicated electronic interactions that occur in certain low dimensional materials.  Anyons have characteristics not seen in ordinary matter, including exhibiting fractional charge and fractional braiding statistics that maintain a "memory" of their interactions with other quasiparticles by inducing quantum mechanical phase changes. This property may make anyons promising for quantum computers.

Nominators for the award noted that Manfra’s unique breadth of expertise in condensed matter physics, from growth of high purity martials to quantum transport experiments, enabled Manfra and his team to control every step of designing and executing the experiments. His team developed a new device structure to screen out interactions that might obscure the anyon behavior.

Manfra serves as the scientific director of Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette, and is an important contributor to Quantum Science Center, the Department of Energy QISR Center that was funded in 2020 with $115 million over a five-year window (2020 to 2025). Microsoft is also a QSC contributor.

Manfra will deliver the Arden L. Bement Jr. Distinguished Lecture at 3 p.m. on Nov. 12. It will be a virtual lecture made available to the public.

The Arden L. Bement Jr. Award was established in 2015 by Distinguished Professor Emeritus Arden Bement and his wife, Louise Bement, to annually recognize a Purdue faculty member for recent outstanding accomplishments in pure and applied sciences and engineering. Winners of the Bement Award are nominated by colleagues, recommended by a faculty committee and named by the university president. 

Learn more about Purdue’s prestigious awards, including past recipients.