Research in the Quantum Design group

Our research deals with electronic properties of solids, especially in regard to interaction-driven physics. We want to understand for example

• why metals and semiconductors behave the way they do,
• how we can control and manipulate the behavior of materials, and thus work towards creating new devices,
• and which properties can only be explained by large numbers of electrons acting as a coherent group (as opposed to single-electron physics), i.e. we study the "social behavior" of electrons.

As theoretical physicists, our research can be clustered in two main fields: we aim at identifying interesting future experiments and predicting their outcome, and collaborate with our experimental colleagues to model and interpret their measurements.

In the broad field of solid state physics, we are most interested in:

• electron-electron interactions and strongly correlated physics
• fractionalization and emergent excitations
• superconductivity
• nano- und mesoscopic structures
• topological states of matter
• one-dimensional physics
• quantum phases and their transitions
• quantum magnetism in solids

Our research is often concerned with equilibrium properties, but we also find transport especially interesting. In our work, we combine analytical techniques with numerics.