Winding electrons in quantum materials
Prof. Yi-Ting Hsu
Department of Physics
University of Notre Dame
Among the tens of thousands of materials that exist in nature and scientific laboratories, a few secretly exhibit an identical quantum behavior despite them being built from different atoms into different shapes. After decades, scientists now understand this mysterious quantum behavior and how it arises from electrons “winding” around the material with the research being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2016. Yi-Ting Hsu, assistant professor of physics, will describe how the mathematical structure of topology produces the exotic properties of these materials, and shares more about their potential applications.