Biography

I am postdoctoral researcher in experimental physics at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under Frances Hellman. I am studying spin generation and transport in exotic material thin film systems and the utility thereof for driving thin film magnetic dynamics with applications for new memory technologies. In less technical terms, my research is about finding materials that can efficiently cause magnets to jiggle through the use of a small electrical current. It turns out that this is a technically relevant and non-trivial problem.

In the time between becoming a postdoc and getting my doctorate, I was part of 3 member team working on an esports health analytics startup. We participated Rev Ithaca’s Hardware startup accelerator program and in Y Combinator’s startup school and received one of the $10,000 startup school grant (note this is not in anyway similar to getting into Y Combinator). We applied to Y Combinator winter 2019 and got an interview but we were not accepted. Even though we were ultimately rejected, the YC interview was one the most excited and dynamic interviews I have had the pleasure of participating in. Ultimately our team ended up disbanding before launch.

In my free time I make things. With another graduate student at Cornell, I have built two RepRap-based 3D printers (we used the first one to make the second). I have also machined Teflon, Delrin, aluminum, stainless steel, copper, brass, and Macor for various personal projects and experimental setups around the lab. In addition to making static things, I have made reactive, luminescent clothing for electronic dance music festival goers and for the Cornell Fashion Collective Fashion Show. This includes designing and hand-populating custom PCB’s.

Education

Selected Work Experience

  • Cook Apprentice at Tersiguel’s French Country Restaurant 2007-2008,2009,2012

  • Nuclear Reactor Operator 2009-2010

  • Senior Nuclear Reactor Operator 2010-2012

  • NSF REU at the University of Arkansas, Summer 2010

  • Visiting Scholar at the University of California Berkeley, Summer 2011

  • Graduate Research Assistant, Cornell University 2013-2018

  • CEO of Irradiance, Inc. (an esports analytics startup) 2018-2020

  • Postdoctoral Research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 2019-present

Publications and Presentations

  • N. D. Reynolds, S. Chatterjee, G. M. Stiehl, J. A. Mittelstaedt, S. Karimeddiny, A. J. Buser, D. G. Schlom, K. M. Shen, and D. C. Ralph, “Strong, Temperature-Dependent Spin-Orbit Torques in Heavy Fermion YbAl3,” arXiv preprint (2020) arXiv:2004.03678

  • T. X. Nan, T. J. Anderson, J. Gibbons, K. Hwang, N. Campbell, H. Zhou, Y. Q. Dong, G. Y. Kim, D. F. Shao, T. R. Paudel, N. D. Reynolds, X. J. Wang, N. X. Sun, E. Y. Tsymbal, S. T. Choi, M. S. Rzchowski, Y. B. Kim, D. C. Ralph, and C. B. Eom, “Anisotropic spin-orbit torque generation in epitaxial SrIrO3 by symmetry design,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 116, 16186 (2019) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1812822116

  • Y. Ou, Z. Wang, C. S. Chang, H. P. Nair, H. Paik, N. D. Reynolds, D. C. Ralph, D. A. Muller, D. G. Schlom, R. A. Burhman, “Exceptionally High, Strongly Temperature Dependent, Spin Hall Conductivity of SrRuO3,” Nano Lett. 19, 3663 (2019) DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b00729

  • G. M. Stiehl, D. M. MacNeill, N. Sivadas, I. E. Baggari, M. H. D. Guimaraes, N. D. Reynolds, L. F. Kourkoutis, C. J. Fennie, R. A. Burhman, and D. C. Ralph, “Current-Induced, Torques with Dresselhaus Symmetry Due to Resistance Anisotropy in 2D materials,” ACS Nano 13, 2599 (2019) DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b09663

  • M. H. D. Guimaraes, G. M. Stiehl, D. MacNeill, N. D. Reynolds, and D. C. Ralph, “Spin-Orbit Torques in NbSe2/Permalloy Bilayers,” Nano Lett. 18, 1311 (2018) DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b04993

  • D. MacNeill, G. M. Stiehl, M. H. D. Guimaraes, N. D. Reynolds, R. A. Buhrman, and D. C. Ralph, “Thickness dependence of spin-orbit torques generated by WTe2,” Phys. Rev. B 96, 054450 (2017) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.96.054450

  • C. L. Jermain, S. V. Aradhya, J. T. Brangham, M. R. Page, N. D. Reynolds, P. C. Hammel, R. A. Buhrman, F. Y. Yang, and D. C. Ralph, “Increased low-temperature damping in yttrium iron garnet thin films,” Phys. Rev. B 95, 174411 (2017) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.95.174411

  • Neal Reynolds, Priyamvada Jadaun, John T. Heron, Colin L. Jermain, Jonathan Gibbons, Robyn Collette, R. A. Buhrman, D. G. Schlom, and D. C. Ralph, “Spin-Hall Torques Generated by Rare-Earth (Lanthanide) Thin Films,” Phys. Rev. B 95, 064412 (2017) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.95.064412

  • Xin Fan, Alex R. Mellnik, Wenrui Wang, Neal Reynolds, Tao Wang, Halise Celik, Virginia O. Lorenz, Daniel C. Ralph, and John Q. Xiao, “All-optical vector measurement of spin-orbit-induced torques using both polar and quadratic magneto-optic Kerr effects,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 109, 122406 (2016) DOI: 10.1063/1.4962402

  • Neal Reynolds, Jonathan Gibbons, John Heron, Darrell Schlom, and Daniel Ralph, “The Spin Hall Effect in Rare Earth Thin Films,” APS March Meeting 2016 Abstract: R11.00002

  • Neal Reynolds, Jonathan Gibbons, John Heron, Darrell Schlom, and Daniel Ralph, “The Spin Hall Effect in Rare Earth Thin Films,” APS March Meeting 2015 Abstract: J28.00001

  • Neal D. Reynolds, Cristian D. Panda, and John M. Essick, “Capacitance-voltage profiling: Research grade approach versus low-cost alternatives,” Am. J. Phys (2014) DOI: 10.1119/1.4864162