Three research groups, two kinds of electronic properties, one material



The Max Planck Institute for Solids and Chemical Physics 


This is the story of a one-of-a-kind material that is made of a single compound. On each of its surfaces, it conducts electrons in different ways, but in the middle, it does not conduct at all


It also tells the story of three research groups, two of which are based in Germany and one at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and the special bond that has developed between them. 


 


 


 


The substance is a member of the group of materials known as topological insulators, which were discovered more than a decade ago. The "bulk" inside these materials is insulating, while conducting on their exteriors. However, the two properties cannot be separated: If you cut through the material, the new surface will be conducting, while the bulk will still be insulating. 


 


 


 


Five years ago, Dr. N U R I T A V RA H AM started working for Dr. H aim new group in the institute's Condensed Matter Physics Department. Around that time, she and Beidenkopf met Prof. B I N G H A I Y A N when he had his most memorable logical visit to the Weizmann Foundation. At the time, Y A N was a junior group leader in materials scientist Prof. Claudia Falser's lab at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, where she was developing novel topological materials. While Y A N turned to theory to predict how these materials ought to behave and devise the mathematical models that provide an explanation for their unusual behavior, B I D E N K O P F S group specializes in classifying and measuring these materials on the scale of single atoms and electron paths


A V R A H A M and B E I D E N K O P F were interested in learning more about a particular kind of chemically organized topological insulator. Y A N suggested using a brand-new material that he had predicted and later developed in Falser laboratory.  Shortly thereafter, the Weizmann and Max Planck groups began collaborating


As the partnership grew stronger, B E I D E N K O P F and A V R A H M persuaded the Faculty of Physics to invite Y A N once more to the Institute. During this time, Y A N made the decision to leave Germany with his family and move to Rochester, New York, to work in the Institute's condensed matter physics department


It would take a long time to comprehend this particular material, a compound of bismuth, tellurium, and iodine 


On their cleft sides, the theory predicted that the materials would act as a weak topological insulator; however, it turned out that they were a strong insulator


Could this one material conduct in two distinct ways while simultaneously insulating and conducting? Together with Y A N, the researchers continued to be perplexed by the odd results as they continued to experiment with the material and validate their initial findings by putting it through various tests. According to A V R A H A M, they even measured a new batch of samples that were grown independently by Junior Prof. Anna and Dr. Alexander at the Technic Universities Dresden to ensure that the results are representative of the general population and not a random property of one batch of samples


Symmetry, a property of the material's atomic structure, is sometimes used to classify topological materials. Two distinct types of topological insulators were studied simultaneously by Y A N, Beidenkopf, and A V R A H A M. The researchers believe that similar dual properties could be found in other novel topological materials

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