Meet Dr Anna Ott: Exploring the Future of Quantum Materials

What inspires someone to pursue a career in physics? For Dr Anna Ott, it was a fascination with graphene and the excitement of working in a field where new discoveries were being made almost daily. Today, her research focuses on understanding the behaviour of emerging quantum materials that could underpin future electronic and quantum technologies.

In our conversation with Dr Ott, she discusses her research, the mentors and experiences that have shaped her career, the importance of supporting women in science and why curiosity remains at the heart of scientific discovery.

Karen Steward (KS): For those who may be unfamiliar, can you tell us a bit about your work?

Anna Ott (AO): Currently I am working on freestanding perovskite oxide membranes. They are ultra-thin crystalline materials that can be detached from their growth substrate by etching a sacrificial layer sandwiched between the substrate and the membrane. Once released, these membranes become flexible, transferable and easier to combine with other materials, similar to 2D materials. Without the constraints imposed by the growth substrate, membranes can behave in unexpected ways and new physical phenomena are emerging, which makes them interesting for applications in the field of flexible electronics, sensors, memory devices and new quantum technologies. In our laboratory we then use advanced optical techniques such as Raman spectroscopy and scanning scattering near-field optical microscopy to study the membranes’ fundamental properties down to the nanoscale. 

KS: What inspired you to pursue a career in this area? Were there any people who have been particularly influential or inspirational to you?

AO: I was always curious about science and physics in particular, even at school, so I decided to study physics at university. During my studies I started working on graphene for my masters thesis. At that time, graphene was still very new and it was fascinating to read about all the new discoveries that had been made, since graphene was not behaving like any other material. This inspired me to pursue a PhD degree in the same field at the University of Cambridge. The graphene community in general is very vibrant and, for example, at conferences you can meet and exchange with people from many different laboratories.

KS: What do you think are the greatest barriers for women particularly entering and remaining in the fields of engineering and physics? How do you think these might be addressed?

AO: Before I had moved to France I had a lectureship position in the UK. One of the comments that I had gotten from a female(!) colleague at the time when I got the position was that I “only got it because I was a woman”. I find it horrifying to see that this kind of mindset is still something we have to deal with every day. It is a fact that research is still a very male dominated profession, and schemes intended to help, like positive bias, easily backfire. However, during my PhD and postdoc I found the Women in Graphene meetings particularly inspiring. It is a great environment for everyone to share their own experiences and to help young researchers and students. Still, to me the structures at universities and companies are very rigid and it is quite rare to find women in high positions, especially ones with children. There are frameworks like Athena Swan which are slowly starting to improve the situation – but unfortunately a great percentage of related administrative roles or teaching related roles in general are filled by women, while most men do the “actual” science. Despite that, a lot of progress has been made already: for example in some institutions female researchers who come back from maternity leave are released from most teaching and administrative duties and get funding to re-start their research. Events and organisations like this are definetely helpful, but to change people’s mindset on a greater scale would require a much earlier intervention. A colleague of mine is doing exactly that: she is organising scientific workshops at schools where she is talking about science to children as young as seven years old, letting them interact with our researchers and do experiments in pairs – making sure that everyone has a “hands on” experience. She is paying particular attention to stereotypes, such as “science is for boys only”, which have already settled in the children’s minds, and tries to make them understand that girls can also do science, be confident and bold, and that science in general can be fun. The feedback she receives is always very positive and the children are asking for additional sessions. With changes being directly implemented in universities and early on in the education of children, I believe that the situation will gradually improve.

KS: Can you tell us what most excites you about the way your field is progressing?

AO: The research field of perovskite oxide membranes is quite recent. However, the techniques that have been developed for 2D materials, such as transfer and stacking, are now being applied to membranes. To me,the exciting part is that similar to the beginning of the 2D materials research, there are still a lot of fundamental properties to explore in membranes and thanks to the knowledge that we have obtained from 2D materials, there has been a progress boost. Even though both research fields, 2D materials and perovskite oxides, by themselves are interesting, the synergy between both in the form of membranes and heterostacks makes it an even more exciting research topic for me.

KS: What would your advice be to any women or girls thinking of pursing studies or careers in this area?

AO: Despite the obvious challenges that women will encounter in this area, my advice would be: don’t let the idea that science or physics is “too difficult” or “not for you” stop you from exploring something you are passionate about. I would encourage any young woman interested in science to seek out mentors, support one another, collaborate and not be afraid of making mistakes. Every scientist struggles at times. Don’t be discouraged when, for example, a funding proposal or a paper did not get accepted. That’s part of the journey. Like many things in life, pursuing a scientific career is like riding a roller coaster. You will learn and grow along the way, and eventually find your own path.

About the interviewee

Dr Anna Katharina Ott studied physics at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, before moving to the United Kingdom, where she earned her PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Cambridge. She then held a two-year postdoctoral position at the Cambridge Graphene Centre and was concurrently a junior research fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge. Following this, she was appointed as lecturer in quantum engineering at the University of Exeter. In 2021, Dr Ott became a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Since 2022, she has been working in France with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). She obtained her HDR (habilitation à diriger des recherches) from the University of Strasbourg in 2024 and is now based at the GREMAN laboratory in Tours. Dr Ott's research interests focus on the investigation of quantum and nanoscale materials, with particular emphasis on two-dimensional materials and perovskite oxide membranes, using advanced optical characterisation techniques. She is an expert in Raman spectroscopy where she made seminal contributions to the field of 2D materials, published book chapters and an international standard.