Condensed matter physics theory
Condensed matter physics theory
We aim to understand the quantum-mechanical properties of various states of condensed matter, including the transition between them.
Our focus is on quantum phenomena and quantum states of matter such as superconductors, magnetically ordered materials, and Bose-Einstein condensates. Tailoring material systems at the nano-scale facilitates manipulation and control of quantum behavior. This results in intriguing physical phenomena that often require new principles in order to be described, which we intend to reveal.
Research topics
Quantum transport of spin and charge
Recent years have seen the emergence of a plethora of novel ideas for intelligent designs of devices exploiting physical effects originating with quantum transport of spin and charge across junctions in various hybrid structures. These hybrid structures are based on a combination of different types of materials with functional properties such as superconductors, magnets, paramagnetic metals, semiconductors, and insulators.
Magnetization dynamics
Spintronics has been a highly fertile research area especially over the last two decades, giving rise to practical developments such as read heads of hard drives, nonvolatile magnetic memory, and other types of magnetic sensors.
Quantum phase transitions
Many fundamental and important physical phenomena emerge as a result of strong fluctuations above the ordered state of a physical system. Prominent among such phenomena are classical phase transitions driven by thermally induced fluctuations.
Frustrated quantum magnets
Many materials exhibit magnetic ordering phenomena like ferromagnetism or antiferromagnetism at low temperatures.
Molecular modelling
Density functional theory (DFT) is a versatile quantum mechanical method to investigate the electronic structure of atoms, molecules, and condensed matter systems.
Principal investigators
NumFys is a computational resource of Python scripts covering many topics in physics