Home - FLEET Research Legacy Home Impact Capacity Innovation Knowledge Leadership STEM-Education Sustainability Case studies Legacy Report About About FLEET FLEET Archive Resources Search FLEET has laid the foundation for a long lasting legacy... Areas of impact Knowledge Shaping the scientific community and industry through groundbreaking innovations, technologies and discoveries. Read more Sustainability Fostering a sustainable future for computing through energy-efficient technologies. Read more Capacity Nurturing future leaders through training, mentoring and expanding research capabilities, expertise and networks. Read more Stem Ed Making quantum and science accessible to schools, and fostering community through scientific outreach. Read more Innovation ‘beyond the laboratory’. Fostering creativity and exploring new ideas, encouraging different ways of doing things to create change. Read more Leadership LEADERSHIP Pioneering a transformative workplace culture marked by inclusivity, family-friendly policies, a strong sense of community, transparency and collaboration Read more A snapshot of FLEET outcomes 117 HDR students trained 111 Postdoctoral researchers trained >679 Publications 10 Patents filed 2 Spin-offs 76328 members of public reached in outreach events FLEET Timeline 2016 8 September 2016 FLEET was fundedRead More 8 September 2016 FLEET was funded Monash University has been awarded $33.4 million by the Australian Research Council (ARC) for the establishment of The ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies. In total, nine ARC Centres of Excellence were approved for funding, with Monash leading or involved in five of them. Monash University Vice-Provost… Read more 1 December 2016 Developing the FLEET brandRead More 1 December 2016 Developing the FLEET brand We love the iconic FLEET logo, and so do our members, who have enjoyed wearing it on hoodies, T-shirts and face stickers, working it into scientific experiments, and outreach apparatus. What’s the secret of a great logo? For us, it was involving a large team, being clear about what we… Read more 2017 1 June 2017 FLEET Homescience experiments launchedRead More 1 June 2017 FLEET Homescience experiments launched FLEET wants to make science more accessible to the wider community, and we want to help build a passion for science in the young Australians who will be the country’s future great scientists and engineers. We encourage families to do activities at home that foster a love for science from… Read more 1 October 2017 Liquid-metals once-in-a-decade advance in 2D materials depositionRead More 1 October 2017 Liquid-metals once-in-a-decade advance in 2D materials deposition A variety of methods exist to deposit atomically-thin (two-dimensional) crystals. But large-scale deposition has remained a challenge. However a recent RMIT-led study has found success with a new technique with potential to open new doors for two-dimensional semiconductors. The discovery has been described as a ‘once-in-a-decade’ advance. The new technique… Read more 2 October 2017 First topological transistor from Na3BiRead More 2 October 2017 First topological transistor from Na3Bi Applying an electric field switches conduction mode of a topological material FLEET researchers achieved a significant landmark in the search for a functional topological transistor in 2017, using an applied electric field to switch the electronic conduction mode of a topological material. A ‘gate’ electrode was used to switch the… Read more 1 November 2017 New quantum-gas microscope facilityRead More 1 November 2017 New quantum-gas microscope facility Bridge between microscopic and macroscopic behaviour A new quantum-gas microscope facility at Swinburne University of Technology will allow studies of ultra-cold atomic gases, giving researchers the ability to image and manipulate single atoms. The facility will allow study of quantum effects at a macroscopic scale: a major unsolved issue in… Read more 2 November 2017 Visit by Nobel Laureate Wolfgang KetterleRead More 2 November 2017 Visit by Nobel Laureate Wolfgang Ketterle Nobel physics laureate Prof Wolfgang Ketterle told a crowd of around 200 at Swinburne University of Technology last week about Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs), and other strange states of matter that exist at nano-Kelvin temperatures, which open a new door to the quantum world where particles behave as waves and ‘march… Read more 1 December 2017 New fabrication facilities for van-der-Waals heterostructuresRead More 1 December 2017 New fabrication facilities for van-der-Waals heterostructures Nanostructure fabrication to support FLEET research FLEET’s research to achieve zero-dissipation electrical current depends on the design of key nanoscale structures. In 2017, Research theme B leader Lan Wang, and PhD student Cheng Tan, developed a method to build such nanoscale structures, required to achieve zero- dissipation electrical current. These… Read more 2 December 2017 FLEETs superconducting Mobius strip makes its first appearanceRead More 2 December 2017 FLEETs superconducting Mobius strip makes its first appearance A super-cooled, superconducting Mobius-track impresses the crowds, helps embed FLEET science As a cool science demo, FLEET’s superconductor Mobius track ticks all the boxes: liquid nitrogen – tick. Superconductor – tick. Cool shape – tick. Relevance to the science – tick tick tick. The track features 1500 neodymium magnets, fixed… Read more 2018 1 June 2018 Centre LaunchRead More 1 June 2018 Centre Launch Our insatiable appetite for computing means ITC already consumes 5–8% of global electricity, and is doubling each decade. At the launch of a new Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence the audience heard that efficiency gains in current, silicon-based technology are running out. FLEET seeks new, ultra-low energy electronics using… Read more 2 June 2018 Negative mass clarifiedRead More 2 June 2018 Negative mass clarified A FLEET study led by University of Queensland’s David Colas clarifies recent studies of negative mass, investigating the strange phenomenon of self-interference. NEGATIVE MASS?? When we think of ‘mass’, we usually consider the ‘inertial’ mass – the resistance of a body to acceleration due to an applied force. For a… Read more 1 August 2018 First snapshot of exciton-polariton BEC in inorganic semiconductorRead More 1 August 2018 First snapshot of exciton-polariton BEC in inorganic semiconductor First snapshot of exciton-polariton Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in an inorganic semiconductor Unique opportunity to understand details of BEC without statistical averaging Key to fundamental understanding of exciton-polaritons An ANU advance provides never-before-achieved ‘snapshot’ of Bose-Einstein condensation. Previously, observations of exciton-polaritons in a Bose-Einstein condensate were limited to statistical averaging over… Read more 1 September 2018 First large-scale 2D piezoelectric material depositionRead More 1 September 2018 First large-scale 2D piezoelectric material deposition First ever large-scale 2D surface deposition of piezoelectric material Simple, inexpensive technique opens new fields for piezo-sensors & energy harvesting Study authors, from left: Kouresh Kalantar-zadeh, Azmira Jannat, Nitu Syed, Torben Daeneke Researchers have developed a revolutionary method to ‘print’ large-scale sheets of two dimensional piezoelectric material, opening new opportunities… Read more 1 December 2018 ICON2DMat international conference hostedRead More 1 December 2018 ICON2DMat international conference hosted FLEET hosted the International Conference on Two-Dimensional Materials and Technologies (ICON-2DMat) in Melbourne in December 2018. This was the first time ICON-2DMat had been held in Australia, and with around 300 international and Australian delegates attending, it was an opportunity to showcase the strength of atomically-thin materials research in Australia.… Read more 2 December 2018 First electric-switched topological material, milestone towards topological electronicsRead More 2 December 2018 First electric-switched topological material, milestone towards topological electronics Significant step toward future topological electronics The first electric field-switchable topological material Topological transistors would be an ultra-low energy , beyond CMOS solution to ICT energy use after the end of Moore’s Law Study authors (from left) Dr Mark Edmonds, James Collins and Prof Michael Fuhrer are in the School… Read more 2019 1 April 2019 First Women in FLEET Fellowships offeredRead More 1 April 2019 First Women in FLEET Fellowships offered FLEET’s goal is to achieve 30% representation of women at all levels across FLEET. To begin to move towards this goal, we needed innovative approaches that would allow us to begin ‘shifting the dial’. One innovative initiative that has met with success was FLEET’s new women-only Fellowships, offered in multiple… Read more 1 May 2019 Melbourne Knowledge WeekRead More 1 May 2019 Melbourne Knowledge Week Over a dozen FLEET researchers flew the flag for FLEET and future computing at the recent Melbourne Knowledge Week showcase. Reps introduced the public to ICT energy use, electromagnetism, superconductivity (via FLEET’s supercooled Mobius track) , and the mechanics of binary operations that underlie all modern computing, via the Centre’s… Read more 1 June 2019 First proof of 70-year-old turbulence theoryRead More 1 June 2019 First proof of 70-year-old turbulence theory Seminal, seventy-year-old theory of turbulence experimentally verified for first time Applications range from Jupiter’s Great Red Spot to electron movement in superconductors Two Australian studies published this week offer the first proof of a 70-year-old theory of turbulence. “The studies confirm a seminal theory of the formation of large-scale vortices… Read more 2 June 2019 Observation of native ferroelectric materialRead More 2 June 2019 Observation of native ferroelectric material In a paper released today in Science Advances, UNSW researchers describe the first observation of a native ferroelectric metal. The study represents the first example of a native metal with bistable and electrically switchable spontaneous polarization states – the hallmark of ferroelectricity. “We found coexistence of native metallicity and ferroelectricity… Read more 1 July 2019 Future Electronics unit begins at JMSSRead More 1 July 2019 Future Electronics unit begins at JMSS Surveying and student interviews confirms success of future computing unit in encouraging girls/other students in physics  Over the last three years FLEET has helped put ninety Year 10 students through a ‘Future electronics’ unit, in partnership with John Monash Science School (JMSS). As well as covering semiconductors, Moore’s Law and… Read more 2 July 2019 First observation of new class of materials, excitonic insulatorsRead More 2 July 2019 First observation of new class of materials, excitonic insulators First observation of excitonic insulator New exotic state was first predicted in 1960s A University of Wollongong / Monash University collaboration has found evidence of a new phase of matter predicted in the 1960s: the excitonic insulator. The unique signatures of an excitonic insulating phase were observed in antimony Sb(110)… Read more 1 August 2019 Sydney Science FestivalRead More 1 August 2019 Sydney Science Festival There’s nothing like a strong dosage of outreach to get the ‘cats out of the box’ into the public sphere. The FLEET Centre of Excellence invests significant resources into science-outreach, aimed to inspire stronger engagement with science across all levels of the c…