Wonhee Ko

Assistant Professor

Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
Office: 203 South College
Phone: 865-974-4245
wko@utk.edu | Ko Research Group

Brief Vita

• Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2022 – present)
• R&D Associate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2019 – 2022)
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2017 – 2019)
• Research Staff Member, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (2012 – 2016)


• PhD, Applied Physics, Stanford University (2012)
• BS, Physics and Mathematics, Seoul National University (2006)

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Selected Honors

• UT-Battelle Awards Night, Outstanding Scholarly Output Team Award (2021)
• Samsung Best Paper Awards, Silver Prize (2015)
• Stanford Graduate Fellowship in Science & Engineering (2008 – 2011)
• The Korean Foundation for Advanced Studies Scholarship (2006 – 2011)

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Research Areas

I am interested in finding new quantum phenomena in the condensed matter systems with atomic-scale microscopy. I use scanning tunneling microscope (STM) as a main tool for my research which can resolve atomic and electronic structure of the matter in the atomic scale. Furthermore, I am interested in adding novel modality to the STM (e.g., atom manipulation, functionalized probes, and multiprobe capability) to directly access the quantum properties and control them in the atomic precision. The research will provide highly versatile platform to perform the research on quantum materials and quantum information sciences.

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Selected Publications

1. W. Ko, J. L. Lado, and P. Maksymovych, “Non-contact Andreev reflection as a direct probe of superconductivity on the atomic scale,” Nano Lett. 22 4042 (2022)
2. W. Ko, Z. Gai, A. Puretzky, L. Liang, T. Berlijn, J. Hachtel, K. Xiao, P. Ganesh, M. Yoon, and A.-P. Li, “Understanding Heterogeneities in Quantum Materials (review paper),” Adv. Mater. 2106909 (2022)
3. W. Ko, E. F. Dumitrescu, and P. Maksymovych, “Statistical detection of Josephson, Andreev, and single quasiparticle currents in scanning tunneling microscopy,” Phys. Rev. Res. 3 033248 (2021)
4. S. M. Hus, R. Ge, P.-A. Chen, M.-H. Chiang, G. Donnelly, W. Ko, F. Huang, L. Liang, A.-P. Li, and D. Akinwande, “Observation of single-defect memristor in an MoS2 atomic sheet,” Nat. Nanotechnol. 16 58 (2021)
5. W. Ko, M. Kolmer, J. Yan, A. D. Pham, M. Fu, F. Lüpke, S. Okamoto, Z. Gai, P. Ganesh, and A.-P. Li, “Realizing gapped surface states in magnetic topological insulator MnBi_2-xSbTe,” Phys. Rev. B 102 115402 (2020)
6. M. Kolmer, A. K. Steiner, I. Izydorczyk, W. Ko, M. Engelund, M. Szymonski, A.-P. Li, and K. Amsharov, “Rational synthesis of atomically precise graphene nanoribbons directly on metal oxide surfaces,” Science 369 571 (2020)
7. N. Briggs, B. Bersch, Y. Wang, J. Jiang, R. Koch, N. Nayir, K. Wang, M. Kolmer, W. Ko, A. de la Fuente Duran, S. Subramanian, C. Dong, J. Shallenberger, M. Fu, Q. Zou, Y.-W. Chuang, Z. Gai, A.-P. Li, A. Bostwick, C. Jozwiak, C.-Z. Chang, E. Rotenberg, J. Zhu, A. van Duin, V. Crespi, and J. Robinson, “Atomically thin half-van der Waals metals enabled by confinement heteroepitaxy,” Nat. Mater. 19 637 (2020)
8. W. Ko, C. Ma, G. D. Nguyen, M. Kolmer, and A.-P. Li, “Atomic-Scale Manipulation and In Situ Characterization with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (review paper),” Adv. Funct. Mater. 29 1903770 (2019)
9. W. Ko, G. D. Nguyen, H. Kim, J. S. Kim, X.-G. Zhang, and A.-P. Li, “Accessing the intrinsic spin transport in a topological insulator by controlling the crossover of bulk-to-surface conductance,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 121 176801 (2018)

Please see my Google scholar profile for a complete list of publications.