Physics

Ilija Nikolov Wins Best Poster Prize, WE-Heraeus Seminar, Hamburg

Ph.D. student Ilija Nikolov was awarded the Best Poster Prize at the 824. WE-Heraeus Seminar on Electronic Order in Kagome Metals for his poster presented December 8 – 12 at the Digital Hub Logistics in Hamburg, Germany, Hamburg a “hotspot for quantum materials and quantum technologies.”

Congratulations to Ilija!

The WE-Heraeus-Stiftung website indicates that due to their high degree of orbital frustration, Kagome metals have emerged as a platform for correlated and topological physics in itinerant electron systems. The Dirac cone and flat-band physics of toy models is modified in material realizations that give rise to strongly interacting ground states, such as charge order and superconductivity. Tied to the lattice, these systems promise to realize the long-sought dream of controlling intertwined electronic orders, which both advances our understanding of these materials as well as promises novel applications of quantum materials. With a focus on the AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs) class of materials, we address the mounting experimental evidence for a thus-far unexplained state that bears characteristics of a chiral state with delocalized orbital anti-ferromagnetism. The contradictory state of experimental evidence points to extreme sensitivity of this state to external perturbations, a point of focus at the workshop. With this highly interactive workshop, we aim for a convergence of a minimal model for the interacting state in such Kagome metals and to derive a roadmap addressing the current open questions on microscopics, proposing complementary materials platforms and solidifying ideas towards interacting topological electronics.

The Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation is a non-profit foundation under civil law to promote research and education in the field of natural sciences, particularly physics. It was established in 1963 by Dr. Wilhelm Heinrich Heraeus (1900 - 1985), a grandson of the founder of WC Heraeus GmbH in Hanau (today: Heraeus Holding GmbH), and his wife Else Heraeus (1903 - 1987). Since the mid-1970s, the foundation has worked closely with the German Physical Society (DPG). The Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation enjoys a high reputation among physicists. It is considered the most important private funding institution in the field of physics in Germany

The purpose of the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation, as defined in its constitution, is to promote research and education in the field of natural sciences through direct and indirect activities. The foundation is both operational and sponsoring.

The purpose of the foundation is realized in particular through

  • Promoting the exchange of scientific ideas in conferences and seminars
  • Supporting gifted students in their education
  • Promoting the further development of teaching and training
  • Grants to tax-exempt institutions to finance or co-finance projects that serve research and teaching
  • Individual projects that serve basic research and the dissemination of its findings, such as visiting professorships, endowed professorships, awards and study contracts on topics of particular social importance