Alexey Kovalev

Associate Professor

Alexey Kovalev

310K Jorgensen Hall
402-472-2880
alexey.kovalev@unl.edu


Relevant Links

Download recent publications here.

See Google Scholar here

Download Curriculum Vitae

Outreach/Personal

See how my daughter is doing spintronics

Research Interests


  • Spintronics and Spincaloritronics
  • Spin-Hall Effect
  • Magnetoelectronics
  • Spin-Transfer Torque
  • Anomalous Hall Effect
  • Magnetization Dynamics
  • Nanoelectromechanical Systems
  • Theory of Spin-Polaron in 2D Antiferromagnets
  • Quantum Information Theory

Selected Talks


  • "Magnetomechanical Effects in Magnetic Clusters and Molecules," 55th Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Atlanta/Georgia, USA (invited 11/2010)
  • "Macrospin Tunneling and Magnetopolaritons with Nanomechanical Interference," Seventh International Workshop on Magnetism and Superconductivity at the Nanoscale, Coma-Ruga, Spain (invited 7/2011) (see PDF)
  • "Spintronics phenomena in the classical and quantum worlds," Stony Brook University (2/2012) (see PDF)
  • "Improved quantum hypergraph product LDPC codes," APS March Meeting 2012 (3/2012) (see PDF)
  • "Thermomagnonic spin transfer and Peltier effects in insulating magnets," APS March Meeting 2012 (invited 3/2012) (see PDF)
  • "Quantum LDPC codes: hypergraph-product and related constructions," IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT 2012) (see PDF)
  • "Fault tolerance of "bad" quantum low-density parity check codes," Perimeter Institute For Theoretical Physics (10/2012) (see video)
  • "Spin supercurrents and torquing with Majorana fermions," KITP UCSB (10/2013) (see link)
  • "Noncollinear Antiferromagnetic Insulators as a Promising Platform for Spintronics," Online Spintronics Seminar, UNL (2/2021) (see video)
  • "Towards control of spin currents in magnetic insulators", TopMax22, International Workshop at Max Planck Institute (6/2022) (see video)

Selected Publications


  • A. A. Kovalev, A. Brataas, and G. E. W. Bauer, "Spin transfer in diffusive ferromagnet-normal metal systems with spin-flip scattering", Phys. Rev. B 66, 224424 (2002)
  • A. A. Kovalev, G. E. W. Bauer and A. Brataas, "Current-driven ferromagnetic resonance, mechanical torques and rotary motion in magnetic nanostructures", Phys. Rev. B 75, 014430 (2007)
  • A. A. Kovalev, G. E. W. Bauer and A. Brataas, "Nano-mechanical magnetization reversal", Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 167201 (2005)
  • A. A. Kovalev, Y. Tserkovnyak, "Thermomagnonic spin transfer and Peltier effects in insulating magnets", EPL (Europhysics Letters), 97(6), 67002 (2012)
  • A. F. Barabanov, A. A. Kovalev, O. V. Urazaev, A. M. Belemouk, R. Hayn, "Evolution of the Fermi surface of cuprates on the basis of the spin-polaron approach", Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, 92(4), 677-695 (2001)
  • A. A. Kovalev, Y. Tserkovnyak, K. Výborný, J. Sinova, "Transport theory for disordered multiple-band systems: Anomalous Hall effect and anisotropic magnetoresistance", Phys. Rev. B 79, 195129 (2009)
  • A. A. Kovalev and Y. Tserkovnyak, "Thermoelectric spin transfer in textured magnets", Phys. Rev. B 80, 100408(R) (2009)
  • A. A. Kovalev, J. Sinova and Y. Tserkovnyak, "Anomalous Hall Effect in Disordered Multiband Metals", Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 036601 (2010)
  • A. A. Kovalev, L. X. Hayden, G. E. W. Bauer, Y. Tserkovnyak, "Macrospin Tunneling and Magnetopolaritons with Nanomechanical Interference", Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 147203 (2011)
  • A. A. Kovalev, L. P. Pryadko, "Fault tolerance of quantum low-density parity check codes with sublinear distance scaling", Phys. Rev. A 87, 020304(R) (2013)
  • A. A. Kovalev, S. Sandhoefner, "Skyrmions and Antiskyrmions in Quasi-Two-Dimensional Magnets", Front. Phys. 6, 98 (2018)
  • V. A. Zyuzin, A. A. Kovalev, "Magnon Spin Nernst Effect in Antiferromagnets", Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 217203 (2016)

Group Photo, Year 2018

Kovalev research group

Group Members:

I am always looking for creative students and postdocs who are interested in theoretical condensed matter physics.

Edward Schwartz

Graduate Student

JH 248A Jorgensen Hall

Hamed Vakili

Postdoctoral Associate

JH 310S Jorgensen Hall

Former Group Members:
Shane Sandhoefner Shane Sandhoefner, Data Scientist at Carson Group
Bo Li Bo Li, Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for Advanced Study, Tsinghua University, China
Vladimir Zyuzin Vladimir Zyuzin, Postdoctoral Researcher at Texas A&M
Utkan Gungordu Utkan Güngördü,  Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Sanjay Prabhakar Sanjay Prabhakar, Postdoctoral Researcher, Georgia State University-Atlanta
Rabindra Nepal Rabindra Nepal, Senior Scientist at Zoetis Inc.
Aldo Raeliarijaona Aldo Raeliarijaona, Postdoctoral Fellow - Carnegie Institution for Science

News:

Magnetic skyrmions unwrapped, News and Views, Nature Physics

Majorana bound states with chiral magnetic textures, Journal of Applied Physics

Bo Li gave invited talk at March Meeting 2022

Congratulations to Shane Sandhoefner for recieving his PhD!!!

Congratulations to Bo Li for recieving his PhD!!!

Our paper in Physical Review Letters:

Magnetoelectric control of topological phases in graphene paper

Magnon Landau Levels and Spin Responses in Antiferromagnets
Bo Li and Alexey A. Kovalev
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 257201 (2020) – Published 14 December 2020

Our paper in PRB Editors' Suggestion:

Magnetoelectric control of topological phases in graphene paper

Magnetoelectric control of topological phases in graphene
Hiroyuki Takenaka, Shane Sandhoefner, Alexey A. Kovalev, and Evgeny Y. Tsymbal
Phys. Rev. B 100, 125156 (2019) – Published 25 September 2019

Our paper in March Kaleidoscope:

Physical Review B March Kaleidoscope paper

Valley-dependent Lorentz force and Aharonov-Bohm phase in strained graphene p-n junction
Sanjay Prabhakar, Rabindra Nepal, Roderick Melnik, and Alexey A. Kovalev
Phys. Rev. B 99, 094111 (2019) - Published 27 March 2019

Other publication updates:

First-principles calculation of spin-orbit torque in a Co/Pt bilayer
K. D. Belashchenko, Alexey A. Kovalev, and M. van Schilfgaarde
Phys. Rev. Materials 3, 011401(R) (2019) - Published 29 January 2019
Boundary twists, instabilities, and creation of skyrmions and antiskyrmions
Aldo Raeliarijaona, Rabindra Nepal, and Alexey A. Kovalev
Phys. Rev. Materials 2, 124401 (2018) - Published 17 December 2018