Chris Ciccarino

Chris Ciccarino

Chris Ciccarino earned his B.S. in Physics and Chemistry from Seton Hall University in 2017 and his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from Harvard University in 2022. His graduate research utilized first-principles methods to investigate the electronic and optical properties of point defects in solids, as well as key interactions in materials such as electron-phonon, spin-orbit and phonon-photon coupling. From 2022 to 2025, Chris was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, where he developed tools to model exciton-photon interactions from first principles and studied how materials respond to noisy periodic driving fields. At Santa Clara, Chris is interested in developing further our understanding of complicated quantum-mechanical interactions in materials. He is passionate about developing new theoretical frameworks, building physical intuition, and creating efficient computational tools to explore these phenomena.

• Yu., J., Ciccarino, C.J., Bianco, R., Errea, I., Narang, P., and Bernevig, B.A. “Non-trivial quantum geometry and the strength of electron-phonon coupling,” Nature Physics, 20, 1262-1268 (2024).
  
  
• Halbertal, D.*, Turkel, S.*, Ciccarino, C.J., Profe, J.B., Finney, H., Hsieh, V., Watanabe, K., Taniguchi, T., Hone, J., Dean, C., Narang, P., Pasupathy, A.N., Kennes, D.M., and Basov, D.N. “Unconventional non-local relaxation dynamics in a twisted trilayer graphene moiré superlattice,” Nature Communications, 13, 7587 (2022).
  
  
• Moore, S., Ciccarino, C.J., Halbertal, D., McGilly, L., Finney, N., Yao, K., Shao, Y., Ni, G., Sternbach, A., Telford, E., Kim, B., Pasupathy, A., Dean, C., Hone, J., Schuck, P.J., Fogler, M., Narang, P., and Basov, D.N. “Local Lattice Dynamics in Hexagonal Boron Nitride Moiré Superlattices,” Nature Communications, 12, 5741 (2021).
  
  
• Wang, D.S.*, Ciccarino, C.J.*, Flick, J., and Narang, P. “Hybridized defects in solid-state materials as artificial molecules,” ACS Nano, 153, 5240-5248 (2021).
  
  
• Head-Marsden, K.*, Flick, J.*, Ciccarino, C.J., and Narang, P. “Quantum information and algorithms for correlated quantum matter,” Chemical Reviews, 121, 5, 3061-3120 (2021).
  
  
• Yin, Y., Coulter, J., Ciccarino, C.J., and Narang, P. “Theoretical investigation of charge density wave instability in CuS 2 ,” Physical Review Materials, 4, 104001 (2020).
  
  
• Ciccarino, C.J.*, Flick, J.*, Harris, I., Trusheim, M., Englund, D.R., and Narang, P. “Strong spin-orbit quenching via the product Jahn-Teller effect in neutral group IV qubits in diamond,” npj Quantum Materials, 5, 75 (2020).
  
  
• Harris, I.*, Ciccarino, C.J.*, Flick, J., Englund, D.R., and Narang, P. “Group III quantum defects in diamond are stable spin-1 color centers,” Physical Review B, 102, 195206 (2020).
  
  
• Tian, X.*, Kim, D.S.*, Yang, S.*, Ciccarino, C.J., Gong, Y., Yang, Y., Yang, Y., Duschatko, B., Ajayan, P.M., Idrobo, J-.C., Narang, P. and Miao, J. “Correlating the three-dimensional atomic defects and electronic properties of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides,” Nature Materials, 19, 867-873 (2020).
  
  
• Hayee, F., Yu, L., Zhang, J.L, Ciccarino, C.J., Nguyen, M., Marshall, A.F., Aharonovich, I., Vuckovic, J., Narang, P., Heinz, T.F., and Dionne, J.A. “Revealing multiple classes of stable quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride with correlated optical and electron microscopy,” Nature Materials, 19, 539-539 (2020).
  
  
• Trusheim, M.E., Wan, N.H.*, Chen, K.C.*, Ciccarino, C.J., Flick, J., Sundararaman, R., Malladi, G., Bersin, E., Walsh, M., Leinhard, B., Bakhru, H., Narang, P., and Englund, D. “Lead-related quantum emitters in diamond,” Physical Review B, 99, 075430 (2019).
  
  
• Ciccarino, C.J., Christensen, T., Sundararaman, R., and Narang, P. “Dynamics and Spin-Valley Locking Effects in Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides,” Nano Letters, 18, 5709-5715 (2018).