Graham Cross Professor

A member of the Trinity School of Physics, Prof. Cross leads a research group that studies the mechanics of materials at the nanoscale.

Milestones of Prof. Cross’ work include discovery of macro-scale self-assembly in two-dimensional materials like graphene (Nature, 2016), and revealing size effects in polymer melt flow in sub-molecular scale gaps that strongly violate viscosity scaling derived from de Gennes reptation theory (Science, 2008). He currently performs research into superlubricity and quantum sensing for contact mechanics.

Prof. Cross translates the fundamental knowledge his group generates to applied areas like nanomanufacturing which include nanoimprint moulding, focused ion beam processing and diamond microelectromechanical (MEMS) fabrication. In 2014 he spun out Adama Innovations Ltd., a profitable and growing company manufacturing diamond atomic force microscopy probes that now serve widely in the semiconductor metrology industry.

He received his PhD degree in condensed matter physics from McGill University in Montréal, Canada in 2000. From 1999 to 2001 he was FCAR postdoctoral fellow at IBM Research in Zürich, Switzerland. After a brief stay at the University of Zürich, he joined the nanomechanics group at the SFI Nanoscience Laboratory in Trinity College Dublin in 2002.