Topological materials are condensed-matter systems whose electronic or quasiparticle excitations are characterized by nontrivial topological invariants in momentum space, leading to robust boundary or defect states protected by symmetries such as time-reversal, crystalline, or particle–hole symmetry. Their bulk band structure exhibits features like band inversion and topological band gaps, enabling phenomena such as dissipationless edge or surface conduction, Dirac or Weyl fermions, and Majorana bound states. As physical systems, they serve as platforms for studying topological phases of matter, spin–orbit coupling effects, and emergent gauge fields, with relevance to quantum transport, spintronics, and topological quantum computation.
When mobile charge carriers, also known as itinerant electrons, interact with the strong exchange magnetic fields associated with the intrinsic angular momentum of localized electrons, this can give rise to the so-called ...
A new study has revealed how tiny imperfections and vibrations inside a promising quantum material could be used to control an unusual quantum effect, opening new possibilities for smaller, faster, and more efficient energy-harvesting ...
Condensed Matter
Feb 24, 2026
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Light powers everything from communications to sensing, yet even tiny imperfections can scatter it and weaken signals. To address this, a team led by the University of Bath—working with the University of Cambridge and international ...
Optics & Photonics
Feb 23, 2026
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In some quantum materials, which are materials governed by quantum mechanical effects, interactions between charged particles (i.e., electrons) can prompt the creation of quasiparticles called anyons, which carry only a fraction ...
A research team has successfully implemented a programmable spinor lattice on a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). This platform enables the realization of non-Abelian physics, in which the outcome of operations depends on ...
Optics & Photonics
Feb 12, 2026
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The element cobalt is considered a typical ferromagnet with no further secrets. However, an international team led by HZB researcher Dr. Jaime Sánchez-Barriga has now uncovered complex topological features in its electronic ...
Condensed Matter
Feb 11, 2026
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Researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Semiconductors of CAS, revealed anomalous oscillatory magnetoresistance ...
Condensed Matter
Feb 10, 2026
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A team of US researchers has unveiled a device that can conduct electricity along its fractionally charged edges without losing energy to heat. Described in Nature Physics, the work, led by Xiaodong Xu at the University of ...
Today's most powerful computers hit a wall when tackling certain problems, from designing new drugs to cracking encryption codes. Error-free quantum computers promise to overcome those challenges, but building them requires ...
Superconductivity
Feb 5, 2026
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With an advanced technology known as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), scientists are able to map out a material's electron energy-momentum relationship, which encodes the material's electrical, optical, ...
Condensed Matter
Feb 2, 2026
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