Prof.  Joseph Poon
Department of Physics
University of Virginia

Abstract

High-entropy alloys (HEA), also known as Multi-Principal-Element Alloys (MPEA) or Compositionally Complex Alloys (CCA), are endowed with vast alloying flexibilities for discovering new material systems with desirable properties. Due to the explosive growth of compositions as the number of components increases, there are fundamental challenges in identifying the “sweet spots” with sufficient accuracy. Data-driven methods supported by A.I.  have led to notable progress in predicting HEA crystal phases. However, the prediction of functional properties is less developed. This talk will provide a progress report on the design and discovery of high-entropy materials in the structural and thermoelectric sectors.
I will also discuss our recent work that exploits the quantum speed-up of quantum annealing to accelerate alloy design, highlighting how we are leveraging this nascent technology to tackle the computationally intensive challenges inherent in navigating vast compositional spaces. This approach not only promises to significantly shorten the
discovery cycle for novel HEAs with targeted functional properties but also provides a general framework for integrating quantum computing into complex materials science problems.

Prof.  Poon's Website