A New Generation of Insulators for the Electronics Future
Dr. David Hsieh, 2009-12 Fellow (Condensed Matter Experiment)

Electrical insulators have long been believed to be completely understood systems with uninteresting electronic properties. Over the past few years, however, we have begun to learn that certain electrical insulators can actually host a plethora of exotic electronic phases that defy conventional understanding and evade conventional experimental probes. These materials, dubbed topological insulators, demand new theoretical treatments and new measurement techniques that are uniquely sensitive to their properties. I’ll review the first experimental discovery of topological insulators in nature, and describe new experimental directions that have been developed to produce, characterize and manipulate their properties for future device applications, including completely efficient electrical conduction and quantum computation.