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.
University of British Columbia (UBC) scientists have demonstrated a reversible way to switch the topological state of a quantum material using mechanisms compatible with modern electronic devices. Published in Nature Materials, ...
Condensed Matter
Dec 1, 2025
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Researchers at the University of Twente and Utrecht University demonstrated for the first time that quantum states in the ultra-narrow material germanene can be switched on and off using only an electric field. The researchers ...
Condensed Matter
Dec 1, 2025
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Something strange goes on inside the material platinum-bismuth-two (PtBi₂). A new study by researchers at IFW Dresden and the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat demonstrates that while PtBi₂ may look like a typical shiny gray ...
Superconductivity
Nov 19, 2025
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In magnetic materials with antisymmetric exchange interactions, novel particle-like spin textures called magnetic skyrmions can appear and be manipulated by electrons. First observed in 2009, they have been created and controlled ...
Nanophysics
Nov 18, 2025
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Topological insulators could form the basis for revolutionary electronic components. However, as they generally only function at very low temperatures, their practical application has been severely limited to date. Researchers ...
Condensed Matter
Oct 27, 2025
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Graphene, which is comprised of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, is a widely used material known for its advantageous electrical and mechanical properties. When graphene is stacked in a so-called ...
Superconductors (materials that conduct electricity without resistance) have fascinated physicists for more than a century. While conventional superconductors are well understood, a new class of materials known as topological ...
Condensed Matter
Oct 9, 2025
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93
Silicides—alloys of silicon and metals long used in microelectronics—are now being explored again for quantum hardware. But their use faces a critical challenge: achieving phase purity, since some silicide phases are superconducting ...
Superconductivity
Oct 3, 2025
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A new study addresses a foundational problem in the theory of driven quantum matter by extending the Středa formula to non-equilibrium regimes. It demonstrates that a superficially trivial "sum of zeros" encodes a universal, ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 11, 2025
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Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) is a material created by stacking two sheets of graphene onto each other, with a small twist angle of about 1.1°. At this "magic angle," electrons move very slowly, which can lead ...
