2017 Medal Winners | francais

The 2017 CAP/DCMMP Brockhouse Medal

is awarded to

Yong Baek Kim

"I feel very honoured to be recognized by the 2017 Brockhouse Medal. This award certainly reflects the contributions of talented students, postdoctoral fellows, and collaborators from whom I have learned a great deal of physics. I am also very grateful to numerous colleagues for generously sharing their knowledge and resource." winner quote

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2017 CAP/DCMMP Brockhouse Medal is awarded to Yong Baek Kim, University of Toronto, in recognition of for his leading work on the effects of large spin-orbit coupling on exotic ground states in geometrically frustrated and highly correlated quantum materials. announcement

Yong-Baek Kim is a renowned condensed matter theorist whose research has had significant impact on our understanding of the physics of geometrically frustrated and highly correlated quantum materials. He has been working at the leading edge of the effects of large spin-orbit coupling on exotic ground states in materials, especially those arising from frustration and Mott physics. This has naturally focused on the very topical area of iridate physics, and there is no doubt that Yong Baek has been a key international figure in this field. He has produced a significant and well-cited body of work on iridate quantum magnetism in the presence of Kitaev and Kitaev-like interactions. This general theme � the role of spin orbit coupling in correlated electron physics � is one that has only just begun to be explored both theoretically and experimentally. However, the field possesses a large scope for interesting new exotic ground states due to 4d and 5d transition metal complexes, which are much less studied, at present, than their 3d counterparts.

Yong-Baek's theoretical efforts have been guiding and providing a framework through which this experimental work can be rationalized. It is easy to foresee that his work will become even more influential in the immediate future. Yong Baek Kim�s body of work on spin orbit coupling, topological phases of matter and geometrical frustration is both highly original and proven to be influential to a large body of condensed matter physics research.

Finally, he has played a key leadership role on the international scene of quantum materials research as a co-organizer of many workshops and conferences related to geometrical frustration and topological properties of high correlated materials. He is unquestionably highly deserving of the CAP Brockhouse Medal. nominator citation

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