Emergence and topology in quantum materials

The work of the group is concerned with the bewildering variety of emergent and topological phenomena observed in quantum materials, such as magnetic order, unconventional superconductivity, charge order, orbital order, universal transport coefficients, topologically protected band crossings, etc.  Our goal is to uncover the physical principles behind these phenomena by performing careful experiments and by comparing the results with current theories.

Our current interests include magnetic topological metals and semimetals, and magnetic oxides, especially antiferromagnets and spin transport phenomena. In both classes of material there exists an enormous array of different types of ordering phenomena, which ultimately control the physical properties of the material. Quantum fluctuations due to low dimensionality, small moments, or magnetic frustration are often important too.

The principal experimental techniques used are neutron scattering, carried out at the ILL(France), ISIS and other European facilities, e.g. MLZ (Munich) and SINQ (Switzerland), and magnetic x-ray scattering performed at the ESRF (France), Diamond Light Source and Petra-III (Germany). We also perform magnetometry, transport and heat capacity experiments in Oxford.

Current projects