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Project leaders: F. Mila (EPFL) and A. Zheludev (PSI)
Participating members: L. Degiorgi (ETHZ), Ø. Fischer (UniGE), T. Giamarchi (UniGE), M. Grioni (EPFL), M. Kenzelmann (PSI), J. Mesot (PSI), F. Mila (EPFL), H.-R. Ott (ETHZ), Ch. Renner (UniGE), H. M. Rønnow (EPFL), U. Staub (PSI), M. Troyer (ETHZ), A. Zheludev (PSI).

Summary

The goal of this project is to investigate a panoply of remarkable material properties related to the magnetic degrees of freedom of the electrons. Such properties can originate from strong quantum fluctuations due to reduced dimensionality, geometrical frustration, or the interplay with other degrees of freedom such as orbital degeneracy, ferroelectricity, phonons and charge carriers. Depending on the problem, the objective will be to identify and characterize new phases (e.g. spin or orbital liquids), detect new excitations (orbitons), or understand basic mechanisms to improve technologically-significant performance (multiferroics, colossal magnetoresistance, magnetic qubits). In order to reach these objectives experimental and theoretical tools will be pushed to new frontiers.