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.
The bandgap, i.e. the energy gap between the highest lying valence and the lowest lying conduction band, is a defining property of insulating solids, governing how they absorb light and conduct electricity. Tracking how a ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 9, 2025
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72
In a study appearing in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, researchers used quantum-chemical molecular dynamics simulations to visualize the ultrafast formation of polarons—charge carriers stabilized by lattice distortion—in ...
Nanophysics
Sep 30, 2025
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27
Understanding what happens inside a material when it is hit by ultrashort light pulses is one of the great challenges of matter physics and modern photonics. A new study published in Nature Photonics and led by Politecnico ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 26, 2025
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115
In a world-first, researchers from the Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have directly observed the evolution of the elusive dark excitons in atomically thin materials, ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 25, 2025
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843
Spintronics devices will be key to realizing faster and more energy-efficient computers. To give us a better understanding of how to make them, a Kobe University team now showed how different manufacturing techniques influence ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 18, 2025
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23
In a new Nature study, researchers at the University of Manchester have achieved unprecedented electronic quality in graphene by developing a proximity screening technique that places conducting gates just one nanometer away ...
Moiré superlattices are periodic patterns formed when two or more thin semiconducting layers are stacked with a small twist angle or lattice mismatch. When 2D materials form these patterns, their electronic, mechanical, and ...
A giant anomalous Hall effect (AHE) has been observed in a nonmagnetic material for the first time, as reported by researchers from Japan. This surprising result was achieved using high-quality Cd3As2 thin films, a Dirac ...
Condensed Matter
Aug 28, 2025
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292
Whether in solar cells or in the human eye, whenever certain molecules absorb light, the electrons within them shift from their ground state into a higher-energy, excited state. This results in the transport of energy and ...
Nanophysics
Aug 20, 2025
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67
When two mesh screens or fabrics are overlapped with a slight offset, moiré patterns emerge as a result of interference caused by the misalignment of the grids. While these patterns are commonly recognized as optical illusions ...
Nanophysics
Aug 13, 2025
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