by Anna Tamai, University of Geneva based on an article published in Physical Review X Since the seminal work of Landau in the 1950’s, the low-temperature metallic state of materials is generally assumed to be well understood. Yet, when it comes to oxides, even good metals such as the strontium ruthenates continue to hold surprises.…
by Johan Chang, University of Zürich based on an article published in Nature Communications Exposed to pressure, the lattice parameters of a material generally shrink. In turn, the electronic nearest neighbour hopping integral t increases, due to larger orbital overlap. In a Mott insulator this enhancement can trigger a bandwidth-controlled insulator-to-metal transition. Indeed, the ratio, U/t, of…
On the 3rd week of January 2019, 67 participants forming a broad distribution from the Swiss universities, together with a fair 20% of foreign attendees, were welcomed by the Zurbriggen family in Saas Fee for the 8th MaNEP winter school. The program committee lead by Johan Chang had cooked up an attractive program around the trendy themes…
Each year the Springer Thesis prize is awarded to a PhD work in order to recognise its scientific impact. This year, the 2018 prize in the field of physics was received by Jennifer Fowlie, who completed her PhD studies entitled “Electronic and structural properties of lanthanum nickelate-based heterostructures” in the group of Professor Jean-Marc Triscone…
The MaNEP Network offers summer internships for 3rd and 4th year students in physics. It is a unique opportunity to work for a month this summer in one of the top research teams affiliated to the MaNEP Network while receiving a financial support. Interested ? Click here to see all the details and to contact the…
Since 1920, the top science prize for researchers in Switzerland has honoured internationally recognised scientists for the importance and quality of their work. The prize is now awarded in different disciplines on a rotating basis, a system introduced in 2018. This year, a prizewinner will be sought in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and…
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By Prof. László Forró, EPFL Materials are the linchpin of technological progress. All energy related applications like photovoltaics, fuel cells, thermoelectrics, (harvesting, storing and transmitting) heavily depend on new, more performant materials. Even the success of energy production by nuclear fusion crucially relies on finding compounds that can withstand high doses of irradiation. Information technologies are…
Please tell us about your main research interests during these last years ? I am fascinated by materials in which the physical properties strongly depend on size and shape ofa sample, especially in the context of strongly interacting electron systems and topological materials. In new and chemically complex materials, one rarely has the luxury to…
by Björn Wehinger, UNIGE and PSI based on an article published in Physical Review Letters Quantum magnets have evolved over the past decade into systems of large interest in fundamental and, increasingly, in applied physics. Their exceptional properties, including non-magnetic ground states, fractionalised excitations and topological order, have become candidate resources for quantum information and computing. Application in spintronic…
by Jan Hugo Dil, EPFL based on an article published in Physical Review X The control of the electron spin in functional materials by an external electric field is a key issue for spintronic devices. Because the spin is not directly influenced by a realistic electric field, the coupling has to be indirect and thus especially…
The next joint SPS-ÖPG Annual Meeting will take place at the University of Zürich, in the week of 26-30 August 2019. Save the date ! MaNEP will again contribute, with a special session coordinated by Prof. Marta Gibert and Prof. Titus Neupert. We hope many of you will be able to participate. The detailed announcement will be…
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