Physics and Astronomy

Professor Misha Portnoi

Professor Misha Portnoi

Associate Professor
Physics and Astronomy

Physics Building, Room 304
University of Exeter
Physics and Astronomy (CEMPS)
Physics Building, Stocker Road
Exeter EX4 4QL

I am a theoretical physicist with a broad range of research interests spanning from exactly-solvable problems in quantum and statistical mechanics and anyon excitons in the fractional quantum Hall effect regime to THz applications of carbon-based nanostructures and modelling white light-emitting diodes. My most recent work is related to zero-energy states in graphene, excitons in narrow-gap carbon nanotubes and optical properties of two-dimensional materials with tilted Dirac cones.

 

Pleasa, contact me directly at m.e.portnoi(at)exeter.ac.uk if you are interested in PhD study under my supervision. A choice of projects in the theory of low-dimensional condensed matter systems is available.

Further details of my research can be found here.

 

Education and Employment

 

Visiting positions

  • 2004: Visiting Scientist, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex System, Dresden, Germany
  • 2005 - 2006: Full Professor and Group Head, International Center for Condensed Matter Physics, University of Brasília (ICCMP-UnB), Brazil (on sabbatical leave from Exeter)
  • 2007 - 2009: Visiting Professor, ICCMP-UnB, Brazil (three visits)
  • 2010 - 2014, 2016, 2019: Visiting Professor, International Institute of Physics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (IIP-UFRN), Natal, Brazil (seven visits)
  • 2018 - 2020: Research Professor, ITMO University, Russia
  • 2019: Visiting Professor, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China

 

Funded Research Projects

  • EU H2020 RISE Project “Chiral Metamaterials for THz Polarisation Control” (CHARTIST) H2020-MSCA-RISE-101007896, 01/04/2024-31/03/2026 [Exeter PI] (€55,200 for Exeter)
  • EPSRC grant "Electric and optical manipulation of 2D excitons for room temperature polariton blockade and valley qubits” (Funder Ref. EP/Y021339/1), 2023-2026 [CI] (£1,122,520 for Exeter)
  • EU H2020 RISE Project “Dirac Semimetals-based Terahertz Components” (DiSeTCom) H2020-MSCA-RISE-823728, 11/10/2021-31/12/2023 [Exeter PI] (€78,200 for Exeter)
  • Nato Science for Peace and Security Project “Constructing Novel Non-Classical States of Electromagnetic Field for Far-Field Sensing, RADAR and LIDAR Applications”, NATO SPS G5860, 01/07/2021-30/06/2024, [Exeter PI] (€86,020 for Exeter)
  • EU H2020 RISE Project "Terahertz Antennas with Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission" (TERASSE) H2020-MSCA-RISE-823878, 1/6/2019-31/12/2024 [Exeter PI] (€193,200 for Exeter)
  • EU H2020 RISE Project “Collective Excitations in Advanced Nanostructures” (CoExAN) H2020-MSCA-RISE-644076,1/10/ 2015-30/9/2019 [Exeter PI] €1,003,500 (€225,000 for Exeter)
  • EU FP7 IRSES Project "Carbon-nanotube-based terahertz-to-optics rectenna" (CANTOR), FP7-PEOPLE-IRSES-612285, 1/1/2014 - 31/12/2017 [Coordinator], €91,200
  • EU FP7 IRSES Project "Interaction phenomena in novel materials" (InterNoM), FP7-PEOPLE-IRSES-612624, 1/10/2013 - 30/9/2017 [Exeter PI], €114,000 (€38,000 for Exeter)
  • EU FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network "Novel Type of Terahertz Devices" (NOTEDEV), FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-607521, 1/10/2013 - 30/9/2017 [Exeter PI], €3,880,583 (€572,313 for Exeter)
  • EU FP7 IRSES Project "Quantum optics of carbon-based nanostructures" (QOCaN), FP7-PEOPLE-IRSES-316432, 1/1/2013 - 31/12/2016 [Coordinator], €96,000
  • EU FP7 IRSES Project "Spin-related phenomena in mesoscopic transport" (SPINMET), FP7-PEOPLE-IRSES-246784, 1/6/2010 - 31/5/2014 [Exeter PI], €396,000 (€28,800 for Exeter)
  • EU FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network "Spin effects for quantum optoelectronics" (Spin-Optronics), FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-237252, 1/10/2009 - 30/9/2013 [Exeter PI], €3,280,068 (€224,738 for Exeter)
  • EU FP7 IRSES Project "Route to Bose-Einstein condensation at room temperature" (ROBOCON), FP7-PEOPLE-IRSES-230832, 1/1/2009 - 31/12/2012 [Exeter PI], €459,000 (€93,600 for Exeter)
  • EU FP7 IRSES Project "Terahertz applications of carbon-based nanostructures" (TerACaN), FP7-PEOPLE-IRSES-230778, 1/1/2009 - 31/12/2012 [Coordinator], €86,400
  • International Travel Grant - Travel for Collaboration, Incoming Visit of Prof. O.V. Kibis, Royal Society TG100131, 1/10/2010 - 23/12/2010 [PI], £4,000
  • "Carbon nanotubes as a basis for optoelectronic devices in the terahertz range", Joint Project, Royal Society JP071576, 1/5/2007 – 30/4/2009 [PI], £12,000
  • "Electromagnetics of nanostructures", INTAS 05-96-1076, 2006-2008 [Exeter PI], €60,000 (€7,500 for Exeter)
  • "A study of the anomalous electronic and optical properties of chiral carbon nanotubes", Joint Project, Royal Society Ref: 15333, 1/6/2003-31/08/2005 [PI], £10,000
  • "On the theory of electron-phonon interaction in the quantum Hall regime", EPSRC GR/R20311/01, 1/2/2001 – 31/1/2003 [PI], £63,509
  • Royal Society Conference Grants: CG0872132, 2008/R2, £1,500; CG071936, 2007/R1, £1,400; CG062796, 2006/R3, £1,280; CG052382, 2005/R2, £700; CG041672, 2004/R1, £1,400; CG031198, 2003/R3, £960

Invited Presentations

 

International Conferences

 

Seminars and Colloquia

  • 2024: FORTH, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
  • 2020: Cardiff University
  • 2019: Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  • 2019: Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
  • 2018: University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China
  • 2017: Columbia University, New York, USA
  • 2017: Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield UK
  • 2016: Research Institute for Nuclear Problems of Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus
  • 2015: V.E. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Kiev, Ukraine
  • 2014: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University,Tallahassee, Florida, USA
  • 2013: Institut Néel / CNRS & Nanosciences Foundation, Grenoble, France
  • 2012: University of Regensburg, Germany
  • 2011: Cambridge University (CAPE-CIKC Advanced Technology Lecture),
  • 2010: University College London (Mathematics)
  • 2008: Strathclyde University, Glasgow
  • 2007: University of Bath
  • 2007: University of Montpellier, France
  • 2007: Southampton University
  • 2007: Sheffield Hallam University
  • 2006: University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil
  • 2006: University of California, San Diego (UCSD), USA
  • 2005: University of Cardiff
  • 2004: University of Utah, USA
  • 2003: Birmingham University
  • 2002: University of Warwick
  • 2001: Cambridge University, Cavendish Laboratory (TCM Seminar)
  • 2000: Loughborough University
  • 1999: EMCORE Corporation, Somerset, NJ, USA
  • 1999: Advanced Studies Institute, Princeton, USA
  • 1997: Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University
  • 1996: King’s College London
  • 1996: University of Sheffield
  • 1992: AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill, USA
  • 1992: TU Munich, Germany
  • 1992: University of Kassel, Germany
  • Several seminar and colloquium talks at the Ioffe Institute, University of Utah, Heriot-Watt University, University of Exeter, ICCMP-University of Brasilia, International Institute of Physics (IIP-UFRN) – Natal, Brazil

 

Contributions to the Community

  • Associate Editor, SPIE Journal of Nanophotonics, July 2009 - present
  • Program Committee Chairman of TERAMETANANO-2024 Conference, Gaeta, Italy, 2024
  • Member of the Program Committee of PLMCN-24 Conference, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2024
  • Program Committee Chairman of TERAMETANANO-5 Conference, Natal, Brazil, 2022
  • Co-Director, International Workshop ‘Weyl Fermions in Condensed Matter Physics’, International Institute of Physics, Natal, Brazil, 2019
  • Program Committee Chairman, International School on Nanophotonics, Photovoltaics and Metamaterials (ISNP 2019), Varadero, Cuba, 2019
  • Member of the Program Committee of TERAMETANANO-2019 Conference, Lecce, Italy, 2019
  • Program Committee Chairman of the International Workshop on Quantum Light in Nanostructures (QLIN 2018), Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy, 2018
  • Member of the International Program Committee of the 34th International Conference of the Physics of Semiconductors (ICPS-2018), Montpellier, France, 2018
  • Member of the Programme Committee of the PLMCN-19 Conference, Chengdu, Ghina, 2018
  • Member of the Programme Committee of the PLMCN-18 Conference, Würzburg, Germany, 2017
  • Member of the Program Committee of the TERAMETANANO-2017 Conference, Venice, Italy, 2017
  • Member of the Program Committee of the TERAMETANANO-2016 Conference, Cartagena, Colombia, 2016
  • Programme Committee Chairman of the 6th International School on Nanophotonics and Photovoltaics, Cefalu, Sicily, 2015
  • Member of the Programme Committee of IMMEA2015 Conference, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2015
  • Member of the Programme Committee of the International Conference on Spin-Optronics, Toulouse, France, 2013
  • Member of the Programme Committee of the 2nd International School on Spin-Optronics, St Petersburg, Russia, 2012
  • Co-chairman of the Research Workshop "Advances in Physics and Applications of Low-Dimensional Systems", International Centre for Condensed Matter Physics (ICCMP-UnB), Brasilia, Brazil, 2007
  • Member of the Programme Committee of PLMCN-7 Conference, Havana, Cuba, 2007
  • Member of the Programme Committee of the Nanomodeling II Conference at the 2006 SPIE Optics and Photonics Annual Meeting, San Diego, USA, 2006
  • Co-chairman of the Seminar and Workshop ‘Cooperative Phenomena in Optics and Transport in Nanostructures’ at the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, 2004
  • Member of the EPSRC Peer Review College, 2003 - present
  • Reviewer for funding bodies including EPSRC, Leverhulme Trust, Royal Society, European Research Council, INTAS (2003-2006), Russian Federation Government Mega Grants Program (2010-2013), DOE USA, NSERC Canada and Czech Science Foundation
  • Regular referee for APS, AIP, ACS, EPS, IOP, SPIE, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis and Springer journals
  • External examiner for the award of PhD degrees at Cambridge University, Durham University and Loughborough University.

 

Memberships

  • American Physical Society (APS)
  • Mediterranean Institute of Fundamental Physics (MIFP)

 

Prizes, Honorary Degrees and Positions

  • Doctor Honoris Causa, Mediterranean Institute of Fundamental Physics (MIFP), 2015
  • Honorary Visiting Professor, Novosibirsk State Technical University, since 2007
  • Prize for the Best Young Scientist's Research, A.F.Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, 1991
  • Prize of the Research Council of the A.F.Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, 1991

 

Current Teaching

  • PHY3062 Methods of Theoretical Physics
  • PHY3064 Nanostructure and Graphene Science

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