Wissenschaftler:innen Scientists ≈400 Institut für Theoretische Physik, TU Dresden Matthias Vojta ct.qmat 7 of research. Complexity and topology are unifying elements here with fascinating synergistic potential. ct.qmat successfully brings together two of the leading university departments in this sector as well as five external partners, including two Max Planck Institutes, a Leibniz Institute, and a Helmholtz Center. Despite the geographical distance and the different research structures, their complementary expertise has been welded into a functioning network that’s more than the sum of its parts. Vojta: What’s more, working together at ct.qmat is really fun! We achieve far more thanks to the new collaborations with colleagues from different locations, the new input we get, and the inspirational team spirit. We’re currently living in a golden age of topological physics. Over the past two decades, the research community has gained fundamental insights into, for example, topology (p. 16) as a new organizing principle of states of matter. This will uncover untold novel, exciting phenomena into our joint research both now and for at least the next twenty years. In addition, physics as a whole is becoming more interdisciplinary, and many bridges are being built between the various branches of our field. This is also something we focus on at ct.qmat. What are the highlights of ct.qmat’s work to date? Claessen: One of our highlights achieved through close cooperation between Würzburg and Dresden is the development of new topological materials such as manganese bismuth telluride (p. 12) and Heusler compounds (p. 39). Research at ct.qmat on superconductivity (p. 47) and topological insulators (p. 57) is pioneering – and we’re well on the way to Majorana physics in quantum materials (p. 22). Other highlights include our work on “topolectrical” (topological electrical) circuits (p. 58), atomic monolayers as topological insulators, the creation and imaging of topological magnetic nanostructures, and our progress on topological lasers (p. 28). Vojta: We’ve also gained new insights into many-particle dynamics, found new types of quantum phase transitions and new families of materials for quantum spin liquids (p. 20), and discovered new types of topological semimetals displaying novel phenomena.
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