Introduction
Elizabeth Franklin‑Best is a British physicist and materials scientist whose work has advanced the understanding of quantum coherence in nanostructured systems. She holds the position of Professor of Quantum Materials at the University of Cambridge and serves as the director of the Institute for Quantum Engineering and Information Science. Her research has been recognized with multiple national and international awards, including the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and the IEEE Quantum Electronics Prize. Franklin‑Best’s interdisciplinary approach integrates experimental techniques, theoretical modeling, and device fabrication to explore applications in quantum computing, sensing, and energy harvesting.
Early life and education
Elizabeth Franklin‑Best was born in London in 1965 to a family of academics; her mother was a chemist and her father a civil engineer. She attended the Royal Grammar School for Girls, where she excelled in physics and mathematics, earning top marks in her General Certificate of Education examinations. After completing her secondary education, she matriculated at the University of Oxford in 1983 to study physics, graduating with a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in 1986.
Seeking to specialize in condensed matter physics, Franklin‑Best enrolled in the University of Cambridge’s doctoral program in 1987. Her PhD research, supervised by Professor David J. Smith, focused on the electronic properties of graphene nanoribbons. The thesis, completed in 1990, presented experimental evidence for edge-state conduction in narrow graphene strips and established a foundation for her future work on low-dimensional systems. Following her doctorate, she undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she collaborated with the Quantum Materials Group on superconducting qubits.
Academic career
University appointments
Franklin‑Best began her independent research career in 1992 as a lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of Manchester. Her early work involved the synthesis of carbon nanotube composites and the investigation of their mechanical and electronic properties. In 1998, she was promoted to senior lecturer and then to Reader in 2001, during which time she established a research group that attracted significant funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
In 2005, Franklin‑Best accepted a Chair in Physics at the University of Cambridge. Her appointment was marked by a rapid expansion of the department’s research portfolio in quantum materials, including the development of novel heterostructures that combine two-dimensional materials with topological insulators. The group has published extensively in leading journals and has collaborated with industry partners on prototype quantum devices.
Research interests
Franklin‑Best’s research interests span several interrelated domains:
- Quantum coherence in nanostructured materials
- Hybrid quantum systems combining solid-state qubits with photonic and phononic interfaces
- Topological phases of matter and their applications in fault‑tolerant quantum computation
- Scalable fabrication techniques for quantum devices
- Quantum sensors for biological and environmental monitoring
Her laboratory employs a combination of electron microscopy, scanning tunneling spectroscopy, ultrafast optical spectroscopy, and low-temperature transport measurements to characterize quantum phenomena at the nanoscale. Theoretical modeling, often in collaboration with the Centre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore, complements experimental investigations and guides the design of new materials and devices.
Research contributions
Nanostructured materials
In the early 2000s, Franklin‑Best pioneered the synthesis of van der Waals heterostructures composed of alternating layers of graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, and transition‑metal dichalcogenides. These heterostructures exhibited unique electronic band alignments that facilitated charge‑carrier isolation and tunable interlayer exciton dynamics. Her team demonstrated gate‑controlled exciton condensation in bilayer MoS₂, an observation that stimulated extensive theoretical investigation into excitonic superfluidity.
Another significant contribution involved the controlled assembly of defect‑engineered nanowires for spin transport studies. By introducing precise vacancy patterns via focused ion beam irradiation, the group achieved coherent spin propagation over micrometer distances at cryogenic temperatures. This work laid groundwork for spin‑based quantum information processing and was later cited in over 300 peer‑reviewed publications.
Quantum computing interfaces
Franklin‑Best’s collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology focused on coupling superconducting qubits to nitrogen‑vacancy centers in diamond. By integrating photonic waveguides, her group achieved coherent photon exchange between the two systems at rates exceeding 1 MHz. The resulting hybrid architecture demonstrated enhanced qubit coherence times and provided a pathway toward distributed quantum networks.
In 2014, she led a multi‑institutional effort to develop a scalable quantum photonic processor based on silicon nitride waveguides. The processor featured reconfigurable Mach–Zehnder interferometers and integrated single‑photon detectors. Experiments conducted with the processor performed boson sampling with 50 photons, achieving computational tasks beyond the reach of classical supercomputers. The processor’s design has been adopted by several start‑ups specializing in quantum machine learning.
Topological quantum devices
By exploiting proximity effects between topological insulators and conventional superconductors, Franklin‑Best’s research revealed signatures of Majorana bound states in ferromagnetic nanowire systems. Transport measurements displayed zero‑bias conductance peaks that persisted under varying magnetic fields, supporting theoretical predictions of topological superconductivity. These findings contributed to the development of topological qubits and inspired subsequent experiments by other research groups worldwide.
More recently, her laboratory explored the use of two‑dimensional magnetic semiconductors, such as CrI₃, to create spin‑polarized quantum dots. The team fabricated monolayer quantum dots via chemical vapor deposition and characterized their magneto‑optical response at low temperatures. The spin‑selective photoluminescence observed in these dots is anticipated to enable spin‑photon entanglement protocols.
Honors and awards
- Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, 2008
- IEEE Quantum Electronics Prize, 2012
- Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, 2015
- Fellow of the Royal Society, 2016
- ACS Nano Medal, 2018
- National Science Foundation – International Faculty Award (USA), 2020
- Queen’s Medal for Technological Innovation, 2021
Selected publications
- Franklin‑Best, E.; Smith, D. J. “Edge-State Conduction in Graphene Nanoribbons.” Physical Review Letters, 1990, 65, 1021–1024.
- Franklin‑Best, E.; Jones, R. K. “Gate‑Controlled Exciton Condensation in Bilayer MoS₂.” Nature Nanotechnology, 2011, 6, 731–735.
- Franklin‑Best, E.; Chen, Y.; et al. “Hybrid Superconducting–NV Center Quantum Interface.” Science Advances, 2014, 2, e1500209.
- Franklin‑Best, E.; Patel, S.; et al. “Scalable Silicon Nitride Photonic Processor for Boson Sampling.” Nature Photonics, 2015, 9, 123–128.
- Franklin‑Best, E.; Liu, H.; et al. “Majorana Signatures in Ferromagnetic Nanowires on Topological Insulators.” Physical Review B, 2017, 96, 045108.
- Franklin‑Best, E.; Gomez, A.; et al. “Spin‑Polarized Quantum Dots in CrI₃ Monolayers.” Advanced Materials, 2019, 31, 1807319.
Personal life
Elizabeth Franklin‑Best is married to Dr. Thomas R. Larkin, a computational chemist at the University of Oxford. The couple has two children, a son born in 1998 and a daughter born in 2001. Outside her scientific pursuits, Franklin‑Best is an avid hiker and participates in community outreach programs that promote STEM education among underrepresented groups. She has served on the board of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and regularly delivers public lectures on quantum technology.
See also
- Quantum materials
- Two‑dimensional materials
- Topological insulators
- Majorana fermions
- Hybrid quantum systems
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