Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) is committed to cultivating excellent engineers and scientific talents with innovative ability, global vision and humanistic quality. This year, the "Guangdong-Technion Leadership in Science and Technology Lecture Series" will continue to provide a platform for high-impact dialogues that explore topics that are pertinent to our faculty, students and community.

On the first day of 2023 spring semester, Prof. Xi Chen, Changjiang distinguished professor, National funds for distinguished young scientists and Professor of Physics at Tsinghua University will be invited to give the first lecture of this series in this semester for GTIIT teachers and students.

Information

Date: March 6th, 2023 (Monday)

Time: 19:00-20:00 (Beijing Time)  13:00-14:00 (Israel Time)

Venue: GTIIT Auditorium

Title: Classifying Condensed Matter by Topology

Speaker: Prof. Xi Chen

Host: Prof. David Gershoni (GTIIT Vice Chancellor)

Language: English

Zoom Link:

(1) By mobile phone: please scan the QR code to attend the lecture

(2) By PC: please click here to attend the lecture 

Abstract

There are various ways to classify condensed matter, such as by electrical and magnetic properties, crystalline symmetry, etc. A new paradigm emerged with the discovery of quantum Hall effect in the 80’s of last century. The topological invariants defined on the electronic structure in the momentum space classify crystal into different categories. As one of the most prominent examples, a topological insulator with bulk band gap exhibits robust gapless surface states protected by time-reversal symmetry. Materials with non-trivial topological electronic structure provides a platform for exploring novel quantum phenomena and functionalities. In the talk, he will introduce the basic concept of topological materials and their experimental signatures.

Prof. Xi Chen

Prof. Xi Chen is a professor at Physics Department in Tsinghua University. He obtained his PhD in physics in 2004 from Cornell University in the US. In 2004-2006, he was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Irvine. After 2006 he moved to Tsinghua University as an assistant professor of physics. Since 2010, he has been a full professor.

Prof. Chen's research focuses mainly on superconductors and topological materials. He has done seminal work on understanding superconductivity in two-dimensional materials such as atomically thin layers of iron selenides and their sensitivity to fluctuations. He is a pioneer of scanning probe microscopy and low temperature physics in China and internationally. The research results were selected as Top 10 Achievements Award for Science in China in 2010, Top 10 Achievements Award for Science and Technology in Chinese Universities in 2010 and in 2011. Prof. Chen has published 144 papers in peer reviewed journals including Science, Nature Physics, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review B, Advanced Materials, JACS, Nano Letters, etc. In 2009, he was selected into the "Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University" by the Ministry of Education. In 2010, he was awarded "China National Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists". In 2011, he won the second prize of the National Prize for Advancement in Natural Science and the Qiu Shi Award for Outstanding Team Achievement. In the same year he was awarded as Chang Jiang Distinguished Professor. He won the Tan Kah Kee Science Award in 2012, and APS Fellow in 2019.

Text/Photos: RIGS, GTIIT News & Public Affairs