Dr. Michael S. Fuhrer, ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies, Monash University, Monash, Victoria, Australia
The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane, and J. Michael Kosterlitz “for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter”. I will explain in basic terms what “topological phases of matter” are, and why they are so exciting for physicists. I will also briefly discuss the energy crisis facing information and communication technology (ICT), and how topological insulators could play a role in solving it.
