Leading scientists on topological insulators met in Berlin
Outstanding researchers took part in the “New Trends in Topological Insulators 2014” - workshop.
From July 7-10, 150 researchers met in Berlin to discuss recent findings in the field of topological insulators.
Topological insulators are a rather new form of quantum matter with an insulating bulk and a metallic surface created by topologically protected and spin polarized electronic states.
Outstanding researchers took part in the “New Trends in Topological Insulators 2014” - workshop, organized by Gustav Bihlmayer (Forschungszentrum Jülich) and Saskia Fischer (Humboldt University and Oliver Rader of HZB. 20 speakers had been invited for presentations, the 2012 Buckley Prize winners Shoucheng Zhang and Laurens W. Molenkamp (also Leibniz Prize 2014), Zhi-Xun Shen (Buckley prize 2011) and Yoichi Ando (2014 Inoue Prize for Science) being among them.
Breakthrough results were delivered on topics such as optical excitation, electron-photon entangled states, the role of electron correlation as well as imaging of helical edge states and Majorana fermions.
The event took place on the premises of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. It has been generously supported by DFG as well as HZB.
- Spintronics at BESSY II: Real-time analysis of magnetic bilayer systemsSpintronic devices enable data processing with significantly lower energy consumption. They are based on the interaction between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers. Now, a team from Freie Universität Berlin, HZB and Uppsala University has succeeded in tracking, for each layer separately, how the magnetic order changes after a short laser pulse has excited the system. They were also able to identify the main cause of the loss of antiferromagnetic order in the oxide layer: the excitation is transported from the hot electrons in the ferromagnetic metal to the spins in the antiferromagnet.
- Electrocatalysts: New model for charge separation at the solid-liquid interfaceHydrogen is at the heart of the transition to carbon neutrality, as both an energy carrier and a reagent for green chemistry. However, large-scale production of hydrogen via electrolysis, as well as the production of many other chemical products, requires significantly cheaper and more efficient catalysts. A precise understanding of the electrochemical processes that take place at the interface between the solid catalyst and the liquid medium is highly useful for developing better electrocatalysts. In the journal Nature Communications, an European team has now presented a powerful model that determines charge separation at the interface, the formation of the electric double layer and local electric potential variations, and the resulting influence on the catalytic activity.
- Environmental Chemistry at BESSY II: Radicals in waterwaysHow do radicals form in aqueous solutions when exposed to UV light? This question is important for health research and environmental protection, for example with regard to the overfertilisation of water bodies by intensive agriculture. A team at BESSY II has now developed a new method of investigating hydroxyl radicals in solution. By using a clever trick, the scientists gained surprising insights into the reaction pathway.