General Physics Colloquium

Dirac Materials

Alexander Balatsky
Nordita, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University

Recently a new single-layer material—graphene—has been discovered. This is a material where quasi-particle behavior is described by very same Dirac equation that governs behavior of relativistic particles. Dirac  fermionic spectrum leads to very unusual properties of these materials, including electron transport and impurity states. Turns out these properties are not unique to graphene but represent universal consequences of the Dirac spectrum in the fermionic excitation sector.  Strong similarities with other materials exhibiting similar spectra including d-wave superconductors, superfluid 3He, p-wave superconductors and topological insulators exists. These similarities offer a unifying perspective and a view of these compounds as a class: Dirac materials. I will summarize response of these materials to defects, suppressed backscattering and unusual transport properties.  I will also discuss how we can use modern tools to perform quantum imaging of these Dirac materials. 

Coffee/tea and cake will be served at 3 p.m.