Physics professor named a Fellow of the American Physical Society

Shiv Khanna, Ph.D., Department of Physics
Khanna, professor of physics, has been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Khanna was selected by his peers in the field of physics for his “pioneering contributions to theoretical understanding of electronic and magnetic properties of clusters as well as work on superatoms forming a new dimension to the periodic table.”

Through theoretical work, Khanna and his team have identified a new class of multiple valence "superatoms" with unique chemical and electronic behaviors. The theoretical effort is complemented by the experimental work by researchers at Penn State University.

In previous research findings, Khanna, together with Penn State colleagues, had demonstrated that aluminum clusters can act as halogen or alkaline earth elements, thus allowing for the creation of new families of nanoscale materials with extraordinary attributes.

According to Khanna, the production and stabilization of such species is a stirring development as it opens a new branch of chemistry and material science, showing that these “superatoms” can be used as building blocks to form new nanoscale materials that could lead to new applications in medicine, catalysis, sensors and other fields.