Ashkan Salamat

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Assistant Professor of Physics

Expertise: Physics, Chemistry

Biography

Ashkan Salamat is an assistant professor of physics at the Department of Physics & Astronomy. Salamat is also a part of UNLV’s High Pressure Science and Engineering Center, a multidisciplinary group that explores fundamental experimental, computational, and engineering problems of materials under high pressure.

Salamat’s research focuses on identifying the precise makeup of metal superhydrides – extremely hydrogen-rich materials – and techniques to readily synthesize them. Prior to joining UNLV, Salamat was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, researching warm dense hydrogen. In 2019, Salamat was one of just 46 university professors nationwide – and the first from UNLV – to earn an Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

Salamat currently manages the Salamat Lab at UNLV, exploring the high energy density landscape of light elemental (H-C-N-O) systems and their related compounds, which are relevant for Fundamental and Applied sciences.

Education

Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, University College London, UK
M.Sci, Chemistry, Imperial College, UK

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Ashkan Salamat In The News

American scientists have discovered a new way in which water can freeze.

Scientias

April 1, 2022

Water ice is water ice, you might say. Okay, you have rockets, pear ice creams and so on. But if you freeze nothing but pure water—that is, molecules made up of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms—you simply get ice—right?

Researchers discover a new form of ice

Sunday Guardian Live

March 26, 2022

Researchers have discovered a new form of ice, which could have implications for our understanding of distant, water-rich planets. The findings of the study were published in the journal ‘Physical Review B’. Solid water, or ice, is like many other materials in that it can form different solid materials based on variable temperatures and pressure conditions, like carbon forming diamond or graphite. However, water is exceptional in this aspect as there are at least 20 solid forms of ice known to us. A team of scientists working in UNLV’s Nevada Extreme Conditions Lab pioneered a new method for measuring the properties of water under high pressure. The water sample was first squeezed between the tips of two opposite-facing diamonds — freezing into several jumbled ice crystals. The ice was then subjected to a laser-heating technique that temporarily melted it before it quickly reformed into a powder-like collection of tiny crystals.

UNLV researchers make extraterrestrial discovery

March 25, 2022

Student says new form of ice could potentially be from outer space.

Scientists Discover New Form of Ice

Cheddar

March 25, 2022

On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Astronauts, get your warm drinks ready. Scientists say they've discovered a new form of ice that could exist on a distant planet.