Topological states of matter show universal features across materials, like gapless boundary states, with unprecedented robustness to disorder. These properties hold the key to robust quantum technologies: quantum computation, spintronics, or thermo-electric sensors are important examples. Hence, discovering new topological materials and phases is a key contemporary challenge. Using crystal symmetry, around 50% of all non-magnetic crystals were recently predicted to be in a topological phase, and similar numbers are expected for magnetic materials. None of these materials is amorphous because these, by definition, lack long-range atomic order. This is a remarkable absence because amorphous matter can outperform ordinary crystals fundamentally and technologically. The above suggests that amorphous solids are a large overlooked pool of affordable materials with potential for discovering topological phases with new, superior and controlable properties, a central goal of modern condensed matter. However, this pool remains inaccessible, and the two communities studying amorphous matter remain largely disconnected.
The main goal of the project is to establishing novel computational ways to predict new amorphous topological insulators and metals.
More information and the application form can be found here:
https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/UPR2940-ELOBER-083/Default.aspx?lang=EN