Dr Patricia L Alireza

Degrees and Honours

BA (honours); MS (UCLA); PhD (Cambridge); DSc. (Cambridge); Hon.DSc. (Occidental College).

Membership of Professional Bodies / Associations

Institute of Physics, London

Royal Institution, London

APS (American Physical Society)

AAUW (American Association of University Women)

Profile

Patricia Alireza was born in Mexico City and moved to California as a young adult. Since then she has lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Paris, France; Pasadena California; Cambridge and London in the UK.  She did her undergraduate degree in Physics in Occidental College, Los Angeles, as a mature student. She then went to UCLA for an MS in Physics before coming to Cambridge, and to Lucy Cavendish College, in 1999 for her PhD in the Physics Department, which she completed in 2003. She is an experimental research scientist in the Quantum Matter Group at the Cavendish Laboratory, in charge of the High Pressure laboratory, where aside from her own research, she teaches the high pressure techniques to graduate students and leads several international collaborations. In 2010, she received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Occidental College. Recipient of the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Fellowship 2009-2010. Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College. 

Research Interests

Investigating the electronic and magnetic properties of materials under extreme conditions of high pressures, low temperatures and high magnetic fields.  Working mainly on the interaction between magnetism and superconductivity, we study strongly correlated electron systems using high pressure as a tuning parameter with which we can drive a system through magnetic phase transitions, metal insulator transitions as well as pressure induced superconductivity.

Development of new techniques for dc-magnetisation, ac-susceptibility and resistivity measurements at high pressures and low temperatures using miniature anvil cells. 

Publications (selected)

2019                

Tuning dimensionality in van-der-Waals antiferromagnetic Mott insulators TMPS3

M.J. Coak,  D.M. Jarvis,  P.L. Alireza, C.R.S. Haines,C. Liu, S. Son,  I. Hwang, G.I. Lampronti, H. Hamidov, A.R. Wildes, D. Daisenberger,  P. Nahai-Williamson, S.S. Saxena,  and J.-G. Park.  Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.  Volume 32, 12, 2019

2017

Accessing the entire overdoped regime in pristine YBa2Cu3O6+x by application of pressure

Patricia L. Alireza,  G. H. Zhang,  W. Guo,  J. Porras,  T. Loew,  Y. -T. Hsu, G. G. Lonzarich,  M. Le Tacon,  B. Keimer, and Suchitra E. Sebastian. Phys.Rev. B 00, 000500(R) (2017). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.00.000500

2014                

Anomalous pressure dependence of the superconducting transition temperature in TlNi2 Se2−x Sx

S.K. Goh, H. C. Chang, P. Reiss, P. L. Alireza, Y. W. Cheung, S. Y. Lau, Hangdong Wang, Qianhui Mao, Jinhu Yang, Minghu Fang, F. M. Grosche, and M. L. Sutherland. Phys. Rev. B90, 201105(R) (2014)

2012               

Pressure- and Composition-Induced Structural Quantum Phase Transition in the Cubic Superconductor (Sr; Ca)3Ir4Sn13

Lina E. Klintberg, Swee K. Goh, Patricia L. Alireza, Paul J. Saines, David A. Tompsett, Peter W. Logg, Jinhu Yang, Bin Chen, Kazuyoshi Yoshimura, and F. Malte Grosche. Phys.Rev. L109, 237008 (2012)             

2010                

Evidence of superconductivity on the border of quasi-2D ferromagnetism in Ca2RuO4 at high pressure

P. L. Alireza, F. Nakamura,S. K. Goh, Y. Maeno, S. Nakatsuji,Y. Chris Ko, M. Sutherland, S. Julian and G. G. Lonzarich.  J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 22 (2010) 052202. doi 10.1088/0953-8984/22/5/052202

New Approach to High-Pressure Nuclear Magnetic Resonance with Anvil Cells  

T. Meissner, S. K. Goh, J. Haase, B. Meier, D. Rybicki, P.L. Alireza. J Low Temp Phys 159: 284–287 (2010) 

2009         

High sensitivity nuclear magnetic resonance probe for anvil cell pressure Experiments   

Jürgen Haase, Swee K. Goh, Thomas Meissner, Patricia L. Alireza, and Damian Rybicki. Rev.Sci.Intrum. 80, 073905 (2009)

Miniature anvil cell for high pressure measurements in a SQUID magnetometer  

Patricia L. Alireza and Gil Lonzarich.   Rev. Sci.Instrum. 80, 023906, (2009). http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3077303

Superconductivity up to 29 K in SrFe2As2 and BaFe2As2 at high pressures 

Patricia L. Alireza, Y. T. Chris Ko, Jack Gillett, Chiara M. Petrone, Jacqui M. Cole, Suchitra E. Sebastian1, and Gilbert G. Lonzarich. Phys: Cond. Matter, 21, 012208 (4pp) 2009.  doi:10.1088/0953-8984/21/1/012208

2008  

High pressure de Haas–van Alphen studies of Sr2RuO4 using an anvil cell

S.K. Goh , P.L. Alireza , P.D.A. Mann , A.-M. Cumberlidge , C. Bergemann ,M. Sutherland , Y. Maeno. Current Applied Physics 8 (2008) 304–307.

2007       

Developments on Susceptibility and Magnetization Measurements under High Hydrostatic Pressure 

Patricia L. Alireza, Samira Barakat, Anne-Marie Cumberlidge, Gil Lonzarich, Fumihiko Nakamura, Yoshiteru Maeno. Journal of the Physical Society of Japan. Vol 76 (2007) Suppl. A

2006                 

Pressure Induced Changes in the Antiferromagnetic Superconductor YbPd2Sn   

A-M. Cumberlidge, P.L. Alireza, A.F. Kusmartseva, E.E. Pearson, G.G.
Lonzarich, N.R. Bernhoeft, B. Roessli. cond-mat/0605429. (2006)

2005  

High-pressure diffraction studies on Ca2RuO4   

Steffens, O. Friedt, P. Alireza, W. G. Marshall, W. Schmidt, F. Nakamura, S. Nakatsuji, Y. Maeno,  R. Lengsdorf, M. M. Abd-Elmeguid, and M. Braden. Phy. Rev. B 72,094104,  (2005).

2003            

Susceptibility measurements at high pressures using a micro-coil system in an anvil cell

Patricia L Alireza, Stephen Julian.   Rev.Sci.Instrum. 74, 4728, (2003)   http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1614861