Department seminar

(Jointly organised by Department of Physics and Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, UIEAST)

Date and time: 7 March 2017 (Tuesday), 11:00 am
Venue: Seminar Hall

Title: Miracle of topological phases of quantum matter: From Schrodinger to Einstein

Speaker: Prof. Arun Bansil, Physics Department, Northeastern University, Boston, USA

Abstract: The revolution started by the discovery of topological insulators a few years ago has turned out to be the proverbial tip of the much larger iceberg of exotic phases of quantum matter driven by spin-orbit coupling effects. Consideration of electronic states protected by time-reversal, crystalline and particle-hole symmetries has led to the prediction of many novel materials, which can support Weyl, Dirac and Majorana fermions, and to new types of insulators such as topological crystalline insulators and topological Kondo insulators, as well as quantum spin Hall insulators with large band gaps capable of surviving room temperature thermal excitations. I will discuss our recent theoretical work aimed at predicting topological materials and identify cases where robust experimental evidence has been obtained toward their successful materials realization. I will also comment on potential of topological materials as next generation platforms for manipulating spin and charge transport and other applications.