Dr. Nikita Kavokine
Nikita Kavokine graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in chemistry (2015) and a master’s degree in theoretical physics (2017). He stayed at ENS for his PhD in the group of Prof. Lydéric Bocquet, where he carried out theoretical and experimental work on many-body effects in nanoscale fluid transport, graduating in 2021. Nikita then spent a year as a Research Fellow in the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Quantum Physics, working with Prof. Antoine Georges on numerical approaches to disordered quantum systems. In 2022, he moved to MPI-P as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow, and since 2023 he is a group leader in the Department of Molecular Spectroscopy.
Research interests
Liquids are usually described within classical physics, whereas solids require the tools of quantum mechanics. The “Quantum Plumbers” group studies nanoscale systems where this distinction no longer holds. At these scales, liquid flows exhibit quantum effects as they interact with electrons in the solid walls. Using a broad range of tools comprising theory, experiments and numerical simulations, we aim at understanding these emerging quantum couplings, so as to achieve nanofluidic functionalities beyond classical limits.