Electronic structure as a research area focuses on the quantum-mechanical description of electrons in atoms, molecules, solids, and nanostructures, and on how this governs their structural, spectroscopic, and transport properties. It encompasses the development and application of theoretical methods such as density functional theory, wavefunction-based quantum chemistry, many-body perturbation theory, and quantum Monte Carlo to compute energies, charge densities, band structures, and excited states. The field underpins predictive materials design, catalysis, electronic and photonic device engineering, and strongly correlated systems research by linking microscopic electron behavior to macroscopic observables and emergent phenomena.
Quantum computers hold the promise to emulate complex materials, helping researchers better understand the physical properties that arise from interacting atoms and electrons. This may one day lead to the discovery or design ...
Condensed Matter
Oct 30, 2024
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74
For the first time, EPFL researchers have exclusively observed molecules participating in hydrogen bonds in liquid water, measuring electronic and nuclear quantum effects that were previously accessible only via theoretical ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 25, 2024
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252
The bulk photovoltaic (BPV) effect is an uncommon phenomenon that may enable certain materials to outperform the conventional p–n junctions used in solar cells.
Condensed Matter
Oct 22, 2024
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62
A research team has successfully achieved an atomically controlled insulator-to-metal transition in iridate/manganate heterostructures. Their findings were recently published in Nature Communications.
Condensed Matter
Oct 17, 2024
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29
Programmable quantum computers have the potential to efficiently simulate increasingly complex molecular structures, electronic structures, chemical reactions, and quantum mechanical states in chemistry that classical computers ...
Quantum Physics
Oct 14, 2024
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51
In nature, photosynthesis powers plants and bacteria; within solar panels, photovoltaics transform light into electric energy. These processes are driven by electronic motion and imply charge transfer at the molecular level. ...
Optics & Photonics
Sep 25, 2024
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163
Twenty years ago this October, two physicists at the University of Manchester, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, published a groundbreaking paper on the "electric field effect in atomically thin carbon films." Their work ...
Nanomaterials
Sep 23, 2024
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168
UC Irvine-led research reveals that the optical properties of materials can be dramatically enhanced—not by changing the materials themselves, but by giving the light new properties.
Nanophysics
Sep 20, 2024
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250
Magnetic fields can engineer flat bands in twisted graphene layers to create a new playground for exotic physics, RIKEN physicists have shown.
Condensed Matter
Sep 5, 2024
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120
A research team has introduced a novel method for selectively tuning electronic bands in graphene. Their findings, published in Physical Review Letters, showcase the potential of artificial superlattice fields for manipulating ...
Condensed Matter
Aug 27, 2024
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141
