Topological media: exotic particles and a possible route to room temperature superconductivity
CFM Seminars
- Speaker
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Tero Heikkilä (University of Jyväskylä, Finland)
- When
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2015/10/27
12:00 - Place
- Auditorium of the Centro de Fisica de Materiales, Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 5, Donostia-San Sebastián
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Tero Heikkilä
University of Jyväskylä, Finland
_Topological media: exotic particles and a possible route to room temperature
superconductivity_
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_Abstract: _
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One of the main focus points of condensed matter research in the past decade
has been in the topological classification of media. This is a rather novel
viewpoint in the characterization of the electronic properties of matter, and
its successes include the prediction and observation of new classes of
elements beyond the usual metals and insulators, for example topological
insulators, nodal line semimetals and most recently Weyl semimetals. This
approach also unites different branches of physics, as it gives a unified view
on the emergent low-energy properties of matter. In my talk, I will show how
the Berry phase analysis of the spectrum of a lattice periodic Hamiltonian
leads to such a classification of elements. I will also demonstrate how the
topological robustness shows up in the formation of protected (invariant to
local deformations) surface and edge states in topological media. These
surface states have intriguing properties, and especially in nodal line
semimetals the interactions may lead to ordered states - such as
superconductivity - with a very high critical temperature.