Three years ago, as the world opened back up from the coronavirus pandemic, a video dropped designed as a pitch for funding of a new applied science building at the University of Utah. Featured prominently in the outing was the Department Chair of Physics and Astronomy Christoph Boehme.

Standing full-length in probably the most appealing place they could find in the old Stewart building—a hallway with a few upholstered chairs and forced attempts at art-decorated walls—Boehme opens with, “If I started to tell all the experiences that we've had, the bad experiences with problems in our lab-based research facilities with environmental conditions it would probably take me hours.”

Batty inconveniences

Boehme could not help but look a little defeated, backed by incidental music that sounded as if it were an outtake from a who-done-it comedy streaming on BritBox. Shaking his head, he recounted how students had to perform experiments for their lab classes in said hallway because of space constraints. Others described how seismic instability threatened safety and how faculty and students had to make room for “a large number of bats [that] have taken up residence.”

“One experience I remember in 2016,” continues Boehme in the video, “I think a floor was [being] maintained and then they had a leak, and … some solvent-water mixture was absorbed by the ceiling tiles until they were so full that a soft mass essentially dropped on an optical table where you have equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Enduring such batty inconveniences as well as full-blown catastrophes soon led to the largest capital outlay from the state legislature for a shiny new, state-of-the-art building, now known as the L. S. Skaggs Applied Science Building on the west end of campus near Presidents Circle. It isn’t the only reason why Boehme was recently recognized as a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the U, but it does track well in a career lionized by his colleagues and now confirmed by the university provost for his twenty-year tenure at the U.

The top-tier award is reserved for faculty who demonstrate the highest level of scholarship and teaching, as evidenced by national/international recognition and, according to current department chair Carsten Rott, “reflects Professor Boehme’s outstanding leadership, innovation, and lasting contributions to research and education. His work continues to inspire students, colleagues, and the broader scientific community, bringing great distinction to our department.”

Beginnings

A child of the 1970s, Boehme was born and raised in Oppenau, a small town in southwest Germany, 20 miles east of the French city of Strasbourg. After obtaining an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, and committing to 15 months of civil service caring for disabled people to fulfill his military draft requirements, he moved to Heidelberg, Germany in 1994 to study physics at the University of Heidelberg.

In 1997 Boehme won a Fulbright Student Scholarship which brought him to the United States for the first time, where he studied at North Carolina State University and met his wife Kristie. In 2000 the couple moved to Berlin, Germany where they lived for five years while he worked for the Hahn-Meitner Institut, a national laboratory. He finished his dissertation work as a graduate student at the University of Marburg in 2002 and spent an additional three years working as a postdoctoral researcher.

Boehme moved to Utah in 2006 to join the Department of Physics & Astronomy as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted into the rank of Associate Professor and awarded tenure in 2010 and promoted to the rank of Professor in 2013. Boehme received the U’s Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Research Award in 2018 for his contributions and scientific breakthroughs in electron spin physics and for his leadership in the field of spintronics.

Condensed Matter Research

The Department, wrote Boehme recently, is a crucible where the future of science and technology is being forged. “The collaborative environment, state-of-the-art facilities, and the visionary leadership of our faculty have created a unique ecosystem for innovation. Here, curiosity-driven research converges with practical problem-solving, leading to discoveries that transcend the traditional boundaries of physics.”  

The Boehme lab is part of the experimental condensed matter group which studies the behavior of magnetism in  solids such as semiconductors and modern quantum materials. Recently his lab demonstrated the existence of so-called Floquet spin states in organic light emitting diodes, findings published in “Nature Communications.” These results show that electron quantum states needed for modern quantum applications, such as quantum sensors, can exist within technologically well-established materials systems and at room temperature, suggesting that existing electronic device technologies can be utilized also for the fabrication of modern quantum device  technologies. The findings are representative of how the department's Experimental Condensed Matter (CME) research programs succeed in bridging the gap between quantum physics and practical applications offering glimpses into a future where quantum phenomena are increasingly harnessed for technological advancements. 

A spintronics colleague in the CME group, Distinguished Professor Z. Valy Vardeny, not only sees Boehme as a consummate administrator, teacher and advisor whose door is always open to his students, but a willing partner in what Vardeny calls the “dance of research.” He refers to Boehme as “amicable and flexible” in the “two steps forward, one-and-a-half back. One to the left, one to the right” that constitutes the spiral-spring path forward that dedicated scientists must inevitably move through. “We are lucky to have him,” says Vardeny of Boehme. Colleague David Kieda agrees: “Christoph is one of the reasons we have built faculty careers in Utah. He knows the transformational nature of community, and he excels at building it in every aspect of departmental life.”

Boehme corroborates the collegial feel of his department, stating that the recognition of Distinguished Professor “reflects not only my own work, but also the strong environment and collaborations that have developed within our department and across the university over the past several years—which makes it especially meaningful to me.”