Canada Excellence Research Chair in Topological Quantum Matter

Silicon integrated circuits (IC) underpin practically everything we take for granted in our interconnected, digital world: controlling the systems we use and allowing us to access and share information at will. Without the ability to shrink ICs further, silicon cannot continue producing the gains it has so far.

Moreover, silicon’s performance degrades badly at high temperatures and, because modern ICs with billions of transistors generate considerable heat, a lot of effort must go into cooling them. This is not sustainable in the face of the ongoing climate change and energy challenges. Meeting these challenges may require rethinking how we manufacture devices, or even whether we need an alternative to silicon itself.

The Canada Excellence Research Chair in Topological Quantum Matter aims to bridge between density-functional theory (DFT) DFT-based materials and the realization of materials in devices, with the electronic bands structure as a solid starting point. The research team also plans to develop new theoretical and numerical frameworks to study the electronic and magnetic properties of real materials in two and three dimensions, propose probes for their detection and based on the latter discoveries design new meta-materials. 

The areas of focus are Materials and processing technologies and Quantum technologies.

The specific objectives are divided in four areas:

• Novel materials search: New topological materials
• Stability under Interactions
• Metamaterials
• Experimental signatures

The Canada Excellence Research Chair in Topological Quantum Matter is funded by the Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program and total $4 million spread over 8 years.