Your phone heats up because silicon’s electrical resistance wastes energy as heat—a problem that a phenomenon called topological robustness could solve. Topological robustness is a property that protects certain materials’ desirable behaviours against microscopic defects, much like a recipe that still works if ingredients are slightly off. It can enable perfect conductivity with no energy loss, plus breakthroughs in quantum computing, ultra-precise sensors, and optoelectronics. But finding materials that show this robustness at room temperature has proven extremely difficult, because existing theories focus on non-interacting electrons in cold materials. This research takes a fresh approach. The researcher will build a theoretical framework that predicts topological robustness in three new scenarios: natural materials where electrons interact with each other, artificial metamaterials whose response to light is nonlinear (not proportional to intensity), and open quantum systems that constantly exchange energy and particles with their surroundings. If successful, this work will dramatically expand the range of systems where topological robustness can occur. It is primarily fundamental science, but past discoveries in condensed matter physics have led to technologies like transistors and lasers. Here, the payoff could be room-temperature topological materials that make electronics radically more efficient, transform sensing and photovoltaics, and enable practical quantum computers.
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Almost all of us have experienced our phone getting hot when we use it for too long. This is because the resistance of materials like silicon causes energy to be lost to heat, a key challenge preventing progress in electronics and energy conservation. A revolutionary recent discovery in condensed matter physics promises to solve this problem by providing a mechanism for stabilising desirable material properties against microscopic imperfections. This mechanism is called topological robustness, and it can be compared to a recipe that consistently produces a pleasing meal even if the ingredients are not all quite right. Topological robustness can give rise to perfect conductivity without the energy losses that plague common materials. In addition to highly efficient electronics, topological robustness also enables a wealth of breakthrough applications ranging from ultra-precise measurement tools to quantum computing. Nevertheless, finding materials that display topological robustness at room temperature has turned out to be immensely challenging, both in the lab and in computer simulations. With the support of the Future Leaders Fellowship, I will tackle this problem from a fresh perspective: I will generalise topological robustness beyond its current focus on non-interacting electrons - i.e., electrons that do not "talk to each other" - in low-temperature materials. I plan to achieve this by building a framework that predicts new topologically robust properties not only in natural materials composed of interacting electrons, but also in artificial metamaterials with nonlinear behaviour, meaning that their response to incoming light is not proportional to the light's intensity. Shifting paradigms even further, I will search for topological robustness in the dynamics of open quantum systems that constantly exchange energy and particles with their environment. My research will result in new mechanisms for topological robustness across a significantly wider range of scenarios than allowed by existing theories. This research will pave the way for ground-breaking applications in fields as diverse as quantum computing, optoelectronics, sensing, and photovoltaics.
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